Liquor importers follow self-regulatory codes

The other five importers are Pernod Ricard (Thailand), Siam Winery Trading Plus, Thai Asia Pacific Brewery, Brown-Forman Thailand, and Bacardi (Thailand),
Thanakorn Kuptajit, corporate relations director of Diageo Moet Hennessy (Thailand), said one of the key self-regulatory codes was that all of the companies involved must strictly comply with the laws and regulations relating to alcoholic beverages.
“Under the initiative, we inspect and investigate among ourselves whether anybody has violated the self-regulatory codes created under the Thai Alcoholic Beverage Business Association, which was formed a few years ago,” he said.
 He said his company had adopted a “DrinkiQ” marketing scheme to promote responsible drinking. It aims to position alcohol as part of a balanced, healthy lifestyle by focusing on three major objectives.
These are responsible marketing activities and product innovation; increased awareness about responsible drinking among consumers through the DrinkiQ programme and other initiatives; and combating alcohol misuse through partnerships with other organisations.
DrinkiQ standards have been applied internationally through Diageo Moet Hennessy’s 180 sales and marketing operations throughout the world.
In Thailand, the company has applied these standards for about eight years.
Apart from complying with all applicable laws, regulations and industry codes, the programme calls for showing respect for those who choose to abstain from alcohol. Marketing must be aimed only at adults and never at those too young to purchase liquor legally.
Advertising must depict and encourage only moderate and responsible drinking, while the company provides clear, factual and neutral information about the alcohol content of its brands and drinks recipes via packaging, websites, and other appropriate channels, where permitted by law.
The company has pledged never to imply that its brands offer any health, therapeutic, dietary, functional or performance benefits, nor portray or imply that drinking is necessary to obtain social or other success, or to overcome inhibitions or to be socially accepted. It only portrays drinking occurring in safe and appropriate circumstances, and will not portray or suggest any association with anti-social or illegal behaviour or violence.
Finally, marketing under the DrinkiQ code reflects generally accepted contemporary standards of good taste and decency as judged from the perspective of the broader society both locally and globally.
“On behalf of the alcohol industry, we [all players] need to practise good discipline together as an ethical framework for doing business,” Thanakorn said.
He said one of the major problems faced by the Thai alcohol industry was unclear regulations, which result in different understanding between private companies and government bodies and policy-makers.