Promotional materials from 'The Power of No' campaign.

HÀ NỘI — One of the biggest threats facing young adults today is the risk of road crashes and injuries related to alcohol consumption.

In the Asia Pacific region, road crashes claim the lives of 2,000 people each day; up to one-third of fatal road collisions involve alcohol as a contributing factor, and those at highest risk are young, promising individuals who are just getting started in life.

In Việt Nam, 32 per cent of men's road crash injuries and 20 per cent of women's road crash injuries are related to alcohol.

Furthermore, according to the World Health Organization, 34 per cent of Việt Nam's road traffic deaths involve alcohol.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 aims to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road crashes by 2030. Now is the time to act. This is why the Automobile Association of Vietnam, AA Việt Nam, the Việt Nam Association for Responsible Drinking (VARD), the Vietnamese Motorsports Association, EuroCham Việt Nam are rising to the challenge.

Together, these organisations have launched the 'Power of No,' a digital public awareness campaign to promote responsible behaviours around drink driving. This initiative aims to engage young adults of legal drinking age between 18-30 years old in Việt Nam. 

Drink driving is not just a matter of life or death for individuals but harms GDP for developing countries. In Southeast Asia, where rapid motorisation has outpaced the development of safe road infrastructure, the region faces the second-highest road crash fatality rate globally (at 20.7 deaths per 100,000 people), which can generate an economic loss of 3-6 per cent of annual GDP.

The Power of No campaign is part of a regional campaign implemented in five other countries: Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand. It aims to reach 10 million young adults of legal drinking age across six countries to educate them on the severe dangers of drink driving, help them make better-informed choices, and inspire them to pave the path towards a more responsible drinking culture within their local communities.

The Power of No campaign is being led by the Asia Pacific International Spirits and Wines Alliance, representing global spirits and wine producers, the Automobile Association of Việt Nam, creative agency Orès, with support from the US-ASEAN Business Council and the EU-ASEAN Business Council.

This March, Power of No will be released on social media to redefine 'no' for young people and help them discover their power in influencing norms on drinking and driving.

The first phase of the campaign will be a six-week run of teaser videos, commercials and other educational content materials on the campaign's Facebook pages in each country. In later phases of the campaign, the goal will be to measure its impact on behaviour change.

"We all know that drinking then driving happens here in Viet Nam quite frequently. It causes too much misery. Some people take it as their habit, but many drink just because they can't deny their friends, colleague requests, or challenges. That's a bad culture we all have the responsibility to erase," said Quân Nghiêm, CEO of VMA LLC and President of FIA Việt Nam ASN.

"Besides spreading motorsport movement in Việt Nam as a new sport, we genuinely want its spirit and the skills it brings to practice that can help them easily handle every sudden situation when in traffic in their daily lives. So our purpose and yours are the same in the end. We're honoured and excited to be part of the Power of No project."

Patrick Madendjian, VARD Co-Chair, said: "VARD is committed to tackling alcohol-related harm and has partnered with stakeholders and the authorities to tackle drink driving for several years. We are very pleased to be partnering with the AAV and other partners this time round to raise awareness amongst young adults in the country and hope collectively that we can embed a culture of responsible consumption."

Greig Craft, President of AA Việt Nam and FIA Region II – Asia Pacific, said: "Drink driving is deeply interconnected with a country's success for other social indicators. This generation of young adults has massive potential to shape the cultural behaviour that could make our roads safer. We are proud to participate in this campaign to help inspire that change within local communities across the Asia Pacific." — VNS