• by Teresa Buyikian , January 7, 2025

As we head into mid dry January, when early enthusiasm towards a month of sobriety may be waning, Heineken 0.0 is here to tell consumers they don’t need a reason (like a month) to stay sober -- it’s a choice they can make any time of year.

The non-alcoholic brand recently launched “0.0 Reasons Needed,” which was created to help consumers address the social stigmas around staying sober and choosing non-alcoholic drinks. The work was inspired by a recent study commissioned by the brand that  found despite the increasing popularity and options of non-alcoholic beverages, those who chose sobriety may still experience social pressures to imbibe.

The study, which surveyed 11,842 adults across the U.K., U.S., Spain, Japan and Brazil, revealed that Gen-Z consumers ages 18 to 26 years old face the most social pressures around alcohol consumption. Twenty-one percent of Gen Z-ers in the five markets said they had been called-out about their choice of a non-alcoholic drinks and have even gone as far as to conceal drinking low or non-alcoholic drinks. “More than one-third have felt pressure to drink alcohol in some social situations,” said University of Oxford Professor Charles Spence.

The global campaign’s message is straight to the point: “If someone chooses dry, it doesn't matter why,” per the announcement. “Heineken hopes to shatter the stigma associated with choosing not to drink alcohol, defending people's right to make judgement-free choices.”

Three different TV and streaming ads running this month poke fun at various stereotypes associated with not drinking. The first, “On a Diet?,” seen here, shows a woman at a meat-filled rooftop BBQ. The grill master sees her sip her Heineken 0.0, and proceeds to serve her a plate of spinach, as he (inaccurately) assumes she must be watching her weight. She responds by taking another swig out of her Heineken 0.0 and serving herself a rack of ribs.

In another spot, Driving, we see a man motioning a bartender from across a crowded room for another Heineken 0.0. The bartender proceeds to part the crowd and give him a non-alcoholic beer for free, loudly announcing that the man is the designated driver. After closing we see the same man hailing a cab outside the bar (as he is definitely not the designated driver), embarrassingly ducking out of view of the bartender.

“(Heineken) offering a 0.0 has helped make moderation cool,” said Nabil Nasser, global head of Heineken brand, in the release. “You can see there is still work to be done with the research spotlighting (how) low and no alcohol judgement still exists, so we need to be dynamic and inventive around how we tackle these stereotypes.”

The campaign was created by LePub. The TV spots were all filmed in Barcelona and directed by Hanna Maria Hendrich.