“Alcohol-free Boat Races: the role of youth networks and social campaigns to change social attitudes on alcohol”

The Thai StopDrink Network has used mixed method approaches, with high community involvement, to address alcoholrelated problems. One of the measures is to launch a campaign to change social attitudes towards drinking by using a counter alcohol marketing approach, particularly during Thai cultural festivals. StopDrink Youth Group has been the main driver for this initiative.

Thailand has over 200 boat racing events every year, mainly during the rainy season (July- November). Boat races are not just a sports event, they are more like the whole community yearly festivals. To many communities the event is practically the ‘intoxication time of the year’. The alcohol industry has been the main sponsor of such festivals; it is the time when communities are bombarded by alcohol advertisements, sales and drinking. Thus this alcoholised tradition has posed risks and problems, particularly among young people, including fights, accidents, and inappropriate behaviour.

Youth power for alcohol-free boat races in Moon River

The Moon River is the main river for the North-Eastern region of Thailand, flowing through many provinces and communities. 726 kilometers in length, there are more than 30 boat racing events annually. From these, 5 major boat races were selected for the campaign. The aims were to have these selected events as the show cases for other areas. The plan was to de-normalise alcohol on a grand scale.

Case study 1: Phimai District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province

The alcohol free boat racing initiative started in 2010, being integrated into an anti-alcohol campaign at provincial scale. Youth Network played a major role for both district and province levels. The first year campaign gained high public support. A survey found out that 84% of local people agreed with an alcohol-free boat race. When the industry fought back, the new District-Chief Officer decided to go back for sponsorship from a beer company for the 2011 event, despite many positive impacts from the first alcohol-free event in 2010. Phimai Children and Youth Network then conducted a protest at this decision, but their requests fell on deaf ears. With patience, the Network waited for 2 days to resubmit their request for reconsideration, only to receive the bad news that the Chief Officer turned his back on this request. They were told that “There would be no fun if there was no alcohol in the boat racing festival, and this practice (of alcohol sponsorship) had been deeply embedded for such a long time”. Therefore the 2011 event overflowed with alcohol again. But this failure did not discourage these young people at all. With their own creativity they continued to campaign for their idea using still and mobile displays, including ‘walking billboards’, in the festival. Their movement gained much attention, respect and, most importantly, huge public support.

When the public compares the collective benefit and loss between the alcohol-flooded and alcohol-free setting of the year before, it shows significant gain for the campaign. The enduring Phimai Youth Network vowed to the public to continue their efforts to bring back the alcoholfree race in 2012.

Case study 2: Satuek district, Buriram province

As a result of strong and continuous movements by Satuek Youth Network, 2011 was the first year in modern history that Satuek Municipality decided to stop receiving alcohol sponsorship from a beer company. During this event, the youth movement conducted an intensive public campaign, gaining high positive responses, and also set up a surveillance system for any drinking, sale and marketing within the alcohol-free zone. Finding that there were still a few drinking practices and problems, the young people did not give up but kept pressurising those drinkers, forcing them to drink outside the festival arena. This is to make the real alcoholfree setting safe and open for all walks of life in Sateuk District.

Case study 3: Thatum District, Surin Province

Among the pioneer sites, Thatum District has had alcohol free races for three consecutive years. Like others, it was a great decision for the local government to disassociate from alcohol sponsorship. The Thatum Youth Power has contributed greatly to this event, including conducting their activities to promote a safe but lively atmosphere for all local people. A ‘More fun and safe with no alcohol’ message has been publicised. A public poll showed that 96% of Thatum people agreed with the decision not to have alcohol at the race.

Case study 4. Rasri Salai District, Sisaket Province

Rasri Salai district has had alcohol-free races for two consecutive years. Interestingly, this local event had been broadcast live nation-wide by the Thai Public Broadcasting Service. Students from 3 schools set up the fan stands, with full of lively activities including traditional music performance. Instead of using professional commentators, youth representatives performed this task by themselves. Many young people reflected that this was the opportunity to show their pride in their own community. In addition, up to 89% of local people were happier with the alcohol-free event.

Case study 5: Phibun Mangsahan District, Ubon Ratchathani Province

2011 marked the third year that young people had the opportunity to support an alcohol-free boat race initiative. Phibun Mangsaharn Children and Youth Council has fought hard against the idea of “freedom to drink”, which was very strong at all levels, from decision makers to individual drinkers, before the idea of ‘“we can enjoy our own festival without alcohol” became the local norm.

Lessons learnt

1. Youth, when strategically organised, can be crucial to change social attitude, through an alcohol-denormalising campaign. Without them, there is much less chance to have alcohol-free boat racing in these districts. They have many major roles.

1. As youth drinking is always of social concern, these young people can be good advocates for policy. It is perhaps more effective to have them talking to the local governments than academics and health professionals.
   
2. They can have lively involvement in such community events. They are very much able to bring ownership of the cultural festival back from the alcohol industry to the local people.
   
3. They can send out a strong signal, nationwide and to the world, that their life can be fun and full of friendship without alcohol. This is a robust counteradvertising message.

2. It is useful to have locally conducted evidence to support the campaign, and to counter the industry fight back. Basic public opinion survey polls for alcohol-free settings conducted by youth themselves, and basic counts of alcohol-related problems such as fighting and injury cases, are easy but powerful inputs to promote, expand and sustain the campaign.

3. Effective management and coordination among youth organisations are important. Although having high enthusiasm and social concern, youth individuals and organisations have two major limitations. Firstly, no one can be young forever; the high turnover rate of involved individuals is obvious. Secondly, these organisations are fragmented by geographical nature. Therefore continue the movement over time, to set up knowledge and experience sharing mechanisms and to equip them with technical evidence needs to be well managed.

Reported by
Mr Thongchai Phoodploh,
Stop Drink Network, Thailand
Editted by Thaksaphon Thamarangsi, Center for Alcohol Studies, Thailand