Beer brand courts young drinkers with awareness campaign

Just before China's annual "9/9 National Philanthropy Day", international booze conglomerate, AB InBev celebrated the latest iteration of its "Smart Drinking, No Drink & Drive" campaign with a major gala on the banks of Shanghai's Huangpu River.

The drinks company took advantage of the philanthropic gathering to release its latest public-awareness animation, a hip-hop composition titled Never Drink and Drive, which was coproduced with the Forbidden City and stars Harbin Beer's Generation Z virtual mascot, Hajiang, as well as the brand's first nonalcoholic beer (NAB). The film seeks to address the country's fast-changing social landscape in which more young people are taking to the roads after enjoying a drink.

Described as a "multicultural hybrid", which mixes computer graphics and hip-hop with palace and period dramas, the film centers around Hajiang, with a thought-provoking plot constructed to appeal to China's rising Generation Z consumers.