Discouraging drink-driving with Discounted rides in Malaysia

Drink-driving remains a problem in Malaysia, where several recent traffic fatalities have emphasised the dangers of driving after consuming alcohol. Our team is supporting government efforts to change consumer mindsets and behaviour.

In 2020, the country’s Road Transport Act was amended to lower the blood alcohol level permitted while driving to align with World Health Organization recommendations. It also introduced harsher penalties for drink-driving. Education and personal responsibility are of equal importance in ensuring progress on reducing drink-driving incidents.

On Global Beer Responsibility Day, we launched our sixth annual campaign supporting people to #CelebrateResponsibly in partnership with several ride-hailing services. The campaign discouraged drinkdriving by offering people discounted rides home after a night out any time from 7pm to midnight.

Consumers at more than 1,800 of our affiliated bars, bistros and restaurants around the country used smartphone apps to access discounts from our established partners, Grab and Riding Pink, a women-only ride-hailing service. We also partnered with three other chauffeuring services – SOCAR+, Lailah and DriveSafe – that each offered a 10% discount on fares.

To increase consumer awareness and education, we partnered with leading newspapers, Sin Chew Daily and The Star, to publish articles and videos on the new laws and ways to avoid drink-driving.

The six-week campaign, our biggest yet, provided around 5,700 discounted rides from GrabCar and Riding Pink alone. Since 2015, this annual ride-hailing campaign has reached more than 81,000 consumers on the ground, and in 2020 it connected with an additional 4.5 million people through digital channels.