Introduction
Bacardi Limited is committed
to the responsible and safe consumption of our brands by legal drinking age
consumers. We are extremely proud of our portfolio and are committed to
long-term brand building. Most consumers use and enjoy our products
responsibly.
Encouraging responsible
decision making regarding drinking is a strong business model for us when
promoting our premium quality brands. In fact, we discourage abusive
consumption of our brands and urge consumers who choose to drink to do so
responsibly.
As a responsible producer and
marketer of alcoholic beverages to LDA consumers, we will make every effort to
ensure our activity does not appeal to consumers under the legal age for
purchasing alcohol.
As a global player in alcohol
beverages, we expect to take a leadership role in marketing our brands in a
manner in which we take pride and we will observe the relevant laws,
regulations and self-regulatory codes in both the letter and the spirit.
Bacardi Limited implemented
“Social Responsibility: Principles and Procedures for Marketing” on September
1, 2004. Everybody who is involved in the process of creating marketing
material and activity is expected to contribute to the best of their individual
and collective ability to ensure that we are complying with these Principles
and Procedures.
Social
responsibility compliance is
required as part
of our sales and
marketing activities
whether, for example, this involves advertising development, promotional activity
with our retail customers, brand advocacy development as
part of our on-premise education programs
or in contact with legal drinking age
consumers directly through our experiential
marketing events.
Our mission is to reinforce
our values as a global business through our "Global Principles".
The Bacardi companies
are extremely proud of their high quality brands,
products and marketing.
That sense of pride goes hand in hand
with a deep sense of responsibility and respect for the global
communities that we serve and the individual
consumers that enjoy Bacardi
products. As part of this commitment
to social responsibility, Bacardi
Limited is affirming its core
principles for marketing practices by all
Bacardi
companies and
employees."
The Principles are as
follows:
Principle 1
All Bacardi companies and
employees must comply with the laws, regulations and self-regulatory codes
applicable to their marketing and promotional practices.
Principle 2
All marketing
and promotional
practices will present the
responsible enjoyment of alcoholic
beverages and
will not encourage the misuse of alcohol through the presentation
of excessive consumption or situations
where irresponsible consumption is accepted.
Principle 3
All Bacardi products will
provide clear information on alcohol content. A message of responsible
enjoyment will be included on all commercial communications as well as all
Bacardi products.
Principle 4
The content and placement of
all marketing and promotional practices will be directed towards consumers of
the required legal age to purchase alcohol beverages in the relevant markets,
and will avoid associations with images and music that would primarily appeal
to underage individuals.
Principle 5
All marketing and promotional
practices will support the safe consumption of alcohol beverages and will not
associate the consumption of alcohol beverages with any potentially dangerous
activity, such as driving motorized vehicles, operating machinery or performing
hazardous athletic activities.
Principle 6
Corporate communications may
recognise reputable evidence of the physical benefits from moderate alcohol
consumption, but marketing activities will not claim medicinal or performance
properties for Bacardi products.
Principle 7
Marketing and promotional
practices will not be associated with any individual or group behaviour that is
anti-social, violent or destructive
Principle 8
All marketing
and promotional
practices must be in good taste and
must not contain indecent, demeaning, or insulting materials. Developing a
full awareness
and understanding
of our Principles and Procedures in
producing great marketing ideas
is a core requirement everybody
involved in brand development. It is
a team
effort and in order to preserve our ability to market
our brands around
the world, an investment in our
future of our brands.
As good corporate citizens, we believe that
well-constructed self-regulatory
codes can be more effective and credible than
government regulation and legislation.
Self-regulatory codes allow for speedy resolution of issues without
compromising legitimate advertising and
promotional needs.
Our participation in such organizations commits us to adhere
to industry codes on the responsible marketing
and promoting of our products; to place moderation
statements on our consumer advertising; and
in many markets
to place statements
on our products to remind consumers to enjoy our brands
responsibly. Of course, we are strong supporters of improving the self-regulatory process, whenever possible.
As founding members of the
Distilled Spirits Council of the United States
(DISCUS), Bacardi
USA
has made
significant improvements in the Code
of Responsible Practices for Beverage Alcohol Advertising and
Marketing within the last few years.
We have made the Code Review
process more transparent, through the issuance of semi-annual reports,
increased the demographic reach for media advertising to a minimum 70% of the
audience above the legal drinking age, instituted new guidelines regarding
demographic data and advertising placements, and further strengthened how we
advertise in magazines and on branded apparel, to maintain our objective of
directing our advertising to those above the legal drinking age.
In Europe,
we are represented on the Council of
the European Spirits Organization
(CEPS), and are
members of the Scotch Whisky Association,
as well as
the Gin and Vodka Association and Comité Européen des Entreprises
Vins. We support the guidelines issued by these organizations that
cover advertising, promotions,
public relations, and sampling
programs, and
give specific guidelines on avoiding
appealing
to underage consumers. We also
support the common standards (guidelines) of EFRD, the European Forum for
Responsible Drinking.
We also support national
codes as relevant, such as in the United Kingdom, we support the
industry-launched Social Responsibility Standards for the Production and
Sale of Alcoholic Drinks.
Social
Aspect Organizations
In order to develop effective
social responsibility initiatives, Bacardi Limited's subsidiaries
participate
in a number of Social Aspect Organizations throughout the world. In Europe,
a new organization called
the European Forum for Responsible
Drinking has recently been formed and is dedicated
to promoting responsible drinking throughout the European
Union.
Throughout Europe,
we are members of the following organizations.
·
Belgium:
Arnoldus Group & Forum Pour l'Education du Goût
·
Czech
Republic: Forum PSR
·
Denmark:
GODA - Gode Alkoholdninger
·
France:
Entreprise & Prevention
·
Hungary:
Hungarian Association for Responsible Consumption (HAFRAC)
·
Ireland: The Mature Enjoyment of Alcohol in Society (MEAS)
·
Italy:
Centro Aspetti Social Alcool (CASA) & Osservatorio Permanente Sui Giovani Ee
L 'Alcool
·
Malta: The Sense Group
·
The Netherlands:
STIVA
·
Portugal: ANEBE - Associaçao Nacional de Bebidas
Espirituosas,
·
Spain: Fundación Alcohol y Sociedad
·
The United Kingdom: The Portman Group and the Drink Aware Trust
For further information please
visit www.efrd.org
In the United States,
we are members of The Century Council, co-founded by Bacardi U.S.A.
in 1991, and dedicated to fighting underage
drinking and drunk driving. In Thailand, we are members of REACT, a
social aspect
organization
dedicated to promoting responsible
consumption of our products.
In Mexico, Fundación
de Investigaciones Sociales A.C. (FISAC) has
programs dedicated
to fighting underage drinking and drunk driving.
Retailer
Programs
In the United States,
the Council recently created the 65% Campaign to encourage parents to play a
more active role in keeping alcohol out of the hands of teens. This campaign is
based on recent findings that 65% of youth obtain the alcohol they drink from
their family and friends. Since The Council’s inception, more than ten million
posters, decals, buttons and employee information brochures have been
distributed free of charge to retailers and wholesalers nationwide.
Bacardi also teamed up with
the Council to produce a helpful Tip Card that was distributed at last year’s
Orange Bowl Football Classic.
In the United
Kingdom, retailers launched the Challenge 21
program to reduce the availability of alcohol for purchase by underage
drinkers. Bacardi worked with local police and the City Council Licensing Unit
to launch the Best Bar None Awards in Southampton,
an accreditation program for pubs, clubs and bars. We also sponsored a
late-night free bus service across the Christmas period in Southampton
as part of a city centre transport initiative.
In the United States, we
support education through our partnership with The Century Council, a not-for-profit organization
dedicated to fighting drunk driving and underage drinking. has developed two new programs in the past year. Ask,
Listen, Learn: Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix was developed in partnership with
Nickelodeon and is a new creative, multimedia program for middle school
students. Designed by a team of specialist educators and psychologists, the interactive
program helps parents have effective conversations about alcohol with their
children, using accessible resources that include discussion booklets, public
service announcements, and an interactive website. Ask, Listen, Learn continues
The Council’s long-standing commitment to American youth following Ready or
Not®: Talking With Kids About Alcohol in its English, Spanish and Native
American versions. For more information please visit http://www.centurycouncil.org/
Since underage drinking by
girls has not reduced as much as it has by boys, the Council designed Girl
Talk: Choices and Consequences of Underage Drinking for mothers and their
teenage daughters. Designed to address the communication gap, Girl Talk
features a brochure for mothers and a website, www.girlsanddrinking.org,
designed to educate mothers about the important role they play in their
daughter’s decision to drink – or not to drink alcohol. Girl Talk has been
featured on NBC’s “Today Show” and CNN’s “This American Morning,” as well as in
countless newspapers across the country. In Italy,
we have undertaken an innovative collaboration with the Vatican, to
promote messages of drinking in moderation through their literature, which has
been made available to 1,300 schools.
In the United Kingdom,
our advertising and packaging refers users to the Drinkaware website, which
provides guidelines on daily consumption and on how to enjoy and respect
alcohol as part of consumer lifestyles.
In Mexico, we support the TIPPS
Program of interactive workshops to promote an overall culture of
responsibility and moderation with respect to alcohol consumption. Our
subsidiary in Mexico
has also developed a web page to provide information and reference to the latest
news regarding alcohol-related issues.
Drink/Drive and Road Safety
In January 2008, Michael Schumacher, 7 Times Formula
1™ World Champion started work as Bacardi’s Global Social Responsibility Ambassador.
An advertising and PR campaign featuring Michael Schumacher, promoting the
campaign theme, ‘Champions Drink Responsibly ‘ was launched in April 2008 in
Brussels. The campaign theme supported a simple message - drinking and driving
don’t mix. During the launch event Bacardi Limited also signed the EU
Commission Road Safety Charter. Over the next year, the campaign will run in
over 50 countries. For further information please visit www.championsdrinkresponsibly.com.
Through our French subsidiary, we have participated in
programs through Enterprise
and Prevention to reduce the incidence of alcohol-related road accidents among
young people, and to eliminate sales of beverage alcohol to minors.
In Germany, we have invested in a Driver’s
Corner as part of our on-premise promotional activity, which provides free soft
drinks for designated drivers at Bacardi events.
The Century Council has played a leadership role in
the identification of the hardcore drunk-driver problem and has developed
effective means to combat it. In 1997, The Council launched The National
Hardcore Drunk Driving Project, a single, comprehensive resource to assist in
the development of programs that advocate swift identification, certain
punishment and effective treatment to reduce hardcore drunk driving. In June
2004, the Council produced Hardcore Drunk Driving Judicial Guide: A Resource
Outlining Judicial Challenges, Effective Strategies and Model Programs. The
Guide is a resource for judges and judicial educators to help them address the
complexities in their courts of reducing drunk driving, in turn protecting the
public from these dangerous offenders.
There are many other examples
of our support to combat the problems associated with misuse of our products,
and to show how our products should be enjoyed responsibly. These initiatives
are of the keenest interest to us.
For further information on our company
policies please visit www.bacardilimited.com