The "Brewers of Romania" Association, supported by the Road Police Department from the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police and the National Audio-Visual Council launched the social campaign for educating car drivers at the beginning of this year, called "Reality changes when you drive drunk".

The campaign is especially directed to drivers between 18 and 35 years old from urban areas, independent and sociable persons, living life at an alert tempo.

"The Brewers of Romania Association has undertaken, since its incorporation, to act responsibly towards the consumers of beer in Romania, promoting a moderate consumption of quality beer. The fact that the Brewers of Romania has initiated this campaign proves that we are socially committed and that we are preoccupied by responsible consumption. We want this campaign to contribute especially to the prevention of accidents", Mr. Mihai Ghyka, the president of the Brewers of Romania Association, declared.

Last year, between January and October, the number of road accidents which took place because alcohol consumption was of 390, 20,000 sanctions being applied to those drivers found to have been under the influence of alcohol. "Driving after having drunk a glass of alcohol may change the course of your life and of others. It is a campaign at whose end we would like to notice that the number of driving accidents which took place because of alcohol consumption has lowered. In this manner we will be able to claim that we have contributed to the road education of car drivers, that we have been successful and, the most important of all, that we saved lives", declared Mr. Theodor Gino Bosman, chief commissioner, assistant director of the Road Police Department

The project will take place for 3 years, starting from February 2008 and it represents the first initiative on long term as regards the education of the drivers. The first stage, to be carried out until the end of the year, will focus on raising the awareness on the effects of alcohol on driving abilities. "Radio and TV spots focus on the idea that a pleasant experience may become horrible when you drive drunk. In the first place it is an educational campaign meant to make car drivers more responsible and to reduce the number of accidents caused by alcohol consumption", Mr. Attila Gasparik, the vice-president of CNA, said.

The long-term objective of the "Alcohol does not make you big" campaign is educating the Romanian youth with respect to the harmful effects of alcohol consumption at teenage. The partners for this campaign are the Romanian Police and the Ministry of Education, Research and Youth.

Being launched in May 2006 as a pilot program in Bucharest, the project enjoyed explosive interest on behalf of teenagers, on the one hand due to the interesting materials presented in the teaching institutions, on the other hand due to the direct involvement of the world boxing champion Leonard Doroftei.

One year later, the "Alcohol does not make you big" campaign was extended and it reached a national level, having as target group students between 14 and 18 years old from Romanian high schools. Two short educative films "What does it mean to be cool" and "The price of a sports life" were distributed to high schools nationwide, on magnetic media, together with lesson plans, in order for them to be studied during masterclasses, within the chapter "Healthy lifestyle". At the same time, a caravan whose promoter was Dr. Cristian Andrei, went through Bucharest, Cluj Napoca, Constanta, Craiova, Iasi, Ilfov, Ploiesti, Timisoara. Thus, over 2,000 high school students have had the opportunity to be counseled by the famous doctor on alcohol consumption, and over 140,000 pupils have seen the two educative films.

As an alternative to the way they usually spend their spare time, the organizers gave the teenagers the opportunity to enroll in competitions with prizes of almost 10,000 RON. The competition of sites "TrezNet" and that of short educative films "Be cool without alcohol" have gathered thousands of competitive projects.

Until the end of 2008, the "Brewers of Romania" Association, together with its two partners, will prepare a national network of over 1500 "ambassadors" of the "Alcohol does not make you big" campaign (teachers and police inspectors). They will take the campaign message over to their students.