The last thing the organisers of a youth-oriented campaign promoting consumption of alcohol in moderation want is for their target audience to get high on the give-aways.

After all, the campaigners of “Get Your Sexy Back” were handing out free beer to NUS students on Jan. 29 along the corridor of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences as part of their campaign tactic. 

The catch, though, was for students to attain a high score for “The Bar Exam” before they were given a can of beer.

“The Bar Exam” consists of general knowledge questions regarding alcohol and urban myths about alcohol consumption.

Organised as a joint initiative between Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore and four students from the Nanyang Technological University, the campaign began in December last year to raise awareness about binge drinking among youths.

One of the campaigners, Danny Tan, said participants were given three chances to answer a series of 14 questions in “The Bar Exam” regarding alcohol and drinking. Participants must answer at least 11 questions correctly before they were “rewarded.”

Participants were entitled to one can of beer each.

Tan said, “The aim of this ‘bar exam’ is to test the knowledge of participants to see if they know what they are drinking.

“Only those who got a high score will be getting the can of beer.”

He added that “The Bar Exam” served as a “filter” to prevent the public from getting the misconception that the campaign was promoting drinking by handing out beer freely.

Tan said, “First of all, its only one beer, and one beer doesn’t constitute as binge drinking. 

“And besides, this is only a one-off thing, so we believe the measures that we have in place are sufficient.”

The difficulty of the questions also helped students look beyond the gimmick of receiving free beer.

Some of the exam questions include: “Women generally cannot hold their alcohol as well as men?” and “Switching between beer, spirits and wine will not get you drunk faster?”

Lim Mei Gee, a second-year student from FASS, said the campaign was “very interesting” and it provided a “fresh perspective” on the issue of binge drinking.

“It is very down-to-earth and it connects well with the students,” Lim said. “And the ‘bar exam’ isn’t as simple as it seems.”

According to Tan, binge drinking among youths is common due to increasing affluence. 

Tan said, “Although binge drinking is primarily a western problem, we see that it is an increasing trend here in Singapore.

“We have been promoting ourselves as a lifestyle nation and youths are getting into the habit of drinking.”

However, the first step was to get the message across to the youths.

Girish Vanganuru, an engineering student pursuing his master’s degree, said the tactic employed by the campaigners will work because it is about attracting youths to its cause.

“I think this is a very positive campaign and it is good that they are trying to raise the level of awareness among youths on this subject,” he said
 

Visit www.getyoursexyback.sg for more information on the “Moderate Drinking” campaign.