Molson supports responsible drinking

Responsible alcohol use among students improving

CHRISTINE LEONG VOLUNTEER STAFF

Molson Canada is sponsoring the Student Life Education Company’s “Responsible Use” campaign for Fall 2006, while a survey shows that students are now drinking less. Th is campaign plans to reach 170 campuses across Canada — which includes about a million post-secondary students and half a million parents — about responsible alcohol use.

“University students are an important market for Molson and it is important for Molson to help students learn about responsible and moderate use,” said Ferg Devins, vicepresident (government and public aff airs) for Molson Canada. “We believe responsible and moderate use of beer is a part of a healthy lifestyle.”

For over 20 years Molson has supported BACCHUS Canada, the post-secondary division of Th e Student Life Education Company, and they have been actively involved with Responsible Use since 1989.

Th e Student Life Education Company is a non-profi t organization devoted to encouraging Canadian students to make healthy decisions about alcohol use.

“Th e programs BACCHUS is running on campus this year we thought were very compelling and they had a need for funding,” noted Devins. “So Molson thought that it was appropriate for us to step up and support them in their funding of responsible use messaging on campus.”

Frances Wdowczyk, executive director at BACCHUS Canada stated that, “Alcohol awareness is a conversation. We want to constantly be talking to students about what it [means] to be responsible for your alcohol and what it means [to drink] . . . so they don’t buy into the myth or misperceptions that ‘everybody’s doing it.’”

Th eir current campaign includes a kit for its members, which consists of a pamphlet for parents, a wipeoff board that was produced in partnership with Molson and the 1-888-TAXIGUY, a calendar for programmers, and a series of short vignette video clips that people can run at movie nights or at the pubs that demonstrate the protective behaviors for safe responsible drinking.

“We’re going to give our members all the ingredients to then run a variety of events because every campus in Canada is unique,” explained Wdowczyk.

According to Wdowczyk, the University of Manitoba residence offi ce has taken the kit and is looking to use it in the residency aspect of life.

Wdowczyk mentioned that responsible drinking among university students has actually improved in recent years.

“For 20 years we’ve been working with college and university students in Responsible Use. What there is to really recognize is that students, as a whole, drink more responsibly now than ever before,” said Wdowczyk.

According to the fall 2003 Social Norms Survey, “Alcohol and Student Life,” the majority of students (63 per cent) drink twice per month or less often. Th e survey included 5,280 students from 11 post-secondary institutions across Canada.

“We know that most students will have far fewer [drinks] on an occasion but there is still this one third of the population that goes out and ties a really big one on and may get themselves into some diffi culties . . . perhaps make a choice that they never would have made had they not had so much to drink,” said Wdowczyk.

Devins said he believes reaching out to post-secondary students is important.

“Molson is Canada’s oldest brewery and has a long-standing commitment to promoting healthy lifestyle among its beer drinkers,” said Devins. “Molson feels that the promotion of responsible and moderate use is a critically important message to convey to all consumers of our product.”