Know When to Stop

Objective

To make people stop and think about overindulgence during the festive period.

To promote positive drinking and educate consumers about the importance of moderation.

Description

The social media campaign aimed to be a fun, festive reminder that there’s a happy limit to everything and the holidays are best enjoyed in moderation, be that drinking, eating, or binge-watching.

A series of six digital animations were created by an award-winning illustrator. The vibrant and engaging animations showed what can happen when common holiday pleasures become one too many. The idea was to visually capture the sort of manic nature of “too much of a good thing” which is central to the overall idea of moderation. A further animation was created in 2022.

The campaign was inspired by a survey of adults in the UK to gauge people’s feelings and attitudes toward holiday indulgences and experiences (Kelton Global, 1,007 legal drinking-age consumers). The survey found that:

17% reported they didn’t get to celebrate the winter holidays the way they wanted to in 2020 and planed on making up for it in 2021.
Among those who plan to do at least one thing in excess, 48% admitted they would eat more sweets and baked goods in 2021 than in the past, while 38% would be binge-watching TV and films (38%) and 33% shopping.
35% readily confessed to generally eating and drinking more during the holidays than any other time of the year.
45% of this group would spend more time with loved ones than they had in the past.
25% planned to do more to decorate in excess, such as hanging indoor and outdoor decorations and setting up multiple trees.
52% admitted they have a guilty pleasure they’d be embarrassed about, such as their food and drink indulgences or holiday spending habits.
26% with guilty pleasures confessed they would be humiliated if people learned about their enjoyable weaknesses of holiday films or TV shows, and about 1 in 5 people with guilty pleasures admit they'd be embarrassed for anyone to know how they feel about holiday-themed clothing or pyjamas, like ugly Christmas sweaters (21%) and decorating (19%).

The campaign was designed to signpost adults to DRINKiQ, Diageo’s global resource to help people make responsible choices about drinking, or not drinking. It is part of Diageo’s commitment to reaching one billion people with dedicated responsible drinking messaging by 2030 and to educate people on the risks of the harmful use of alcohol as part of their 10-year action plan, Society 2030: Spirit of Progress.