Johnnie Walker owner Diageo says Mika Häkkinen, Jenson Button, and Kevin Magnussen, will demonstrate their control skills and provide rides in Edinburgh city centre to competition winners, media and special guests in a Johnnie Walker-branded Caparo T1 supercar and two McLaren MP4-650S sports cars.
The Walker brand is giving away 250,000 kilometres of safe rides home globally, including 30,000 kilometres in Great Britain during the festive season to encourage people not to drink and drive. The announcement was made the day before the new drink driving legislation comes into force in Scotland, reducing the blood alcohol limit from 80mg to 50mg in every 100ml of blood.
Johnnie Walker has teamed up with Uber to offer consumers a safe ride home during the festive season in London, Manchester and Leeds. Users will need to ‘Join the Pact’ to never drink and drive in order to access a promotional code to unlock their Uber ride.
Diageo has also entered a new partnership with UK government’s Department for Transport ‘Think!’ campaign to promote not drinking and driving this December. The partnership will be communicated via outdoor media, Facebook and an above the line media campaign.
Robert, Goodwill, Road Safety Minister, Department for Transport, said: “Most people know it is wrong to drink and drive but sadly there are still some people who don’t think about their journey home before they have a drink. The safest option this Christmas is to pre-plan your travel home and don’t drink and drive.”
Andrew Cowan, country director, Diageo GB added: “During the festive season millions of Brits will celebrate with a drink, and we are committed to encouraging people to never drink and drive. We hope that everyone takes part in Join the Pact and makes that public commitment.”
Diageo says Join The Pact has already gathered commitments from more than 1.4 million people globally to never drink and drive and in September, Johnnie Walker announced it was seeking to achieve five million personal pledges over the next four years.
In a joint message issued from today’s event, Johnnie Walker global responsible drinking ambassador Mika Häkkinen along with Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen said: “We each know that driving a Formula 1 car is about staying in control, all of the time. Join the Pact is a commitment to staying in control and putting the safety of yourself, your passengers and other people ahead of everything else. It's a choice that guarantees that everyone can enjoy their festivities and get home safely – we appeal to you to make that choice and Join the Pact to never drink and drive.”
Over the festive season consumers can make their pledge to never drink and drive by visiting www.jointhepact.com or by tweeting #GetHomeSafely to @JohnnieWalker.
