As the rest of the world commemorated the Global Beer Responsible Day(GBRD) September 20, Nile Breweries Limited (NBL), a subsidiary of AB InBev marked it by spot lighting Smart Drinking and responsible enjoyment of beers by it’s consumers, employees, partners and the general public.
Onapito Ekomoloit,Legal and Corporate Affairs manager at NBL cautioned all bar owners and operators to avoid going against the formulated beer rules.
Ekomoloit said stopping bad drinking habits should be societal responsibility which should as well be considered a culture that must be adopted by everyone and one which doesn’t need to be policed.
While presiding over his speech to commemorate the day, Ekomoloit advised bar owners and all those dealing in Alcoholic drinks not to sell them to pregnant women and under age persons among others.
“As a bar owner, you should be discouraging pregnant women from drinking beer, shouldn’t be selling to underage, you should not encourage your patrons to drink and drive, you should discourage them from getting intoxicated just because they have money.”
He cited that though beer brings happiness, refreshment to society, it must also like everything else be consumed responsibly.
“You are now familiar that all the things we used to consider so innocent such as Milk,Eggs and Meat among others, the call is for moderation and beer is no exception.
When you abuse beer there will be negative consequences just like when you abuse many other things but beer is unique in a sense that there is a lot of science to beer and if you don’t consume it responsibly, it could have negative effects on you and society.
Specifically, beer must be sold to only adults, it shouldn’t be sold to pregnant women, nobody should drink beer and drive, and basically you shouldn’t try to operate any machine such as motorbikes, vehicles among others after drinking.”
Started 10 years ago,GBRD day aims at informing and educating consumers that there is need to pay attention to specific ways in which beer must be consumed.
Beer should be taken with some moderate drinks such as water and one must have first eaten food before drinking and watch the amount of beer they take.
Onapito urged the public that though there is no specific prescriptive amount of beer one should take,its everyone’s responsibility to take what is enough to the body and not excess.
“Our core message is that drink smart today, celebrate tomorrow and for you to be able to celebrate tomorrow, you need to wake up tomorrow in your normal senses to be able to work and help society.”
Thomas Kamphuis, Managing Director NBL said, “While we are waiting for our favorite bars, clubs and kafundas to re-open, we want to remind people that if they choose to enjoy our quality beers at home, it’s important to keep within the responsible drinking guidelines.
We are passionate about brewing great quality beers and want every experience with beer to be a positive one.”
Kamphuis emphasized that they believe harmful use of alcohol is bad not only for its consumers, colleagues, families and communities, but also for their business.
NBL established it’s Global Smart Drinking Goals in December 2015 to contribute to the World Health Organization’s target of reducing the harmful use of alcohol by at least 10% in every country by 2025 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of strengthening the prevention of harmful use of alcohol globally.
This year’s theme for GBRD is “Let’s champion smart drinking”. So we are calling upon all to be champions of Smart Drinking through their actions in both their personal and professional lives and encourage others too. The public is urged to discourage underage drinking, alcohol consumption by pregnant women or drink driving and discouraging intoxicating practices, such as binge drinking.
Over the last couple of months, consumption models have become home based and NBL embraced virtual interactions. GBRD celebrations will thus focus on encouraging responsible drinking at home via online platforms. The awareness campaigns were started during the ‘Club Beatz at Home’ concert last Saturday.
NBL shall also donate water to its customers at selected outlets that are authorized to sell alcohol. For every five bottles bought, customers will get 3 free bottles of water as an encouragement for them to space their alcohol with water which is one of the ways to drink responsibly.
NBL,the leading beer manufacturers in the World say their staff has a unique role to play in driving Smart Drinking, and every year on Global Beer Responsible Day they reaffirm their commitment towards the cause beyond the company’s walls and out into the communities where they live and work. This year, we have been informed that it will happen on different online platforms.
Its actually no crime to say Smart Drinking is a way of life for NBL!
