By Andy Young
Diageo Australia is rolling out a new labelling initiative, which will help make it clearer for consumers to understand what is in their drink.
According to a study of over 1,000 Australians aged 18 and over, nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of consumers believe that it is important to have clear information about the number of standard drinks, calorie content and alcohol strength of their beverages.
And Diageo spokesperson Kylie McPherson told TheShout that it was important for the company to lead the way with this labelling initiative.
“We are the first company to announce that we are doing this, and we are certainly the first company in Australia to put it on our bottled spirits. We would encourage other alcohol companies to follow our lead and I do hear that some are starting to put nutritional information on their labels and I applaud that,” McPherson said.
“We think this is different and exciting, because Diageo announced globally in 2015 that it would be providing consumers with more information about what is in their drink.
“Traditionally in Australia pre-mix has seen calorie content and standard drinks on the label, but we haven’t put it on full-strength bottled spirit. However today in Australia we have launched calorie information and standard drink information, per serve in a bottled spirit.
“Our labels are now icon-led, so now you can look at a bottle of Bundaberg Rum, and at a glance work out that one serve is 0.9 of a standard drink and 60 calories.”
The move has also come in response to the growing health and well-being trend which sees consumers looking to make more informed decisions about their drinking.
“With health and well-being trends we are seeing that people want to know what is in their drink and also to be able to drink moderately. The more information we can give people the better in terms of leading a balanced lifestyle and drinking alcohol,”
“Our research certainly bore out that people are becoming more aware, but the labelling wasn’t necessarily giving them the information that they were looking for.”
The research conducted also showed that 69 per cent of Australian said that having clear information would influence their choice of beverage, with being most significant among more social age groups, being 74 per cent of 18 to 34 year old and 67 per cent of consumers aged 35+.
The new program will see Diageo products receiving an updated information panel on all consumer facing units including bottles, cans and packaging, with Bundaberg Rum Original being the first brand to receive the updated information panels with the roll out to follow across the wider Diageo range.