Rebranding safety to manliness

Real drivers don’t drink. Unless it’s 0.0. That’s the message on Heineken’s new poster, featuring Max Verstappen. An F1 driver as the poster boy for beer. But more importantly, an F1 driver as the poster boy for responsibility. That’s a big shift from a few years ago.

We associate health and safety with being overbearing. Boring, annoying, cowardly. And in many places, it still is.

But not so much on the roads anymore.

It’s a shift from being patronizing to taking responsibility. Where the government used to lead this charge with campaigns, commercial companies have now taken up the mantle.

Real men take responsibility. A reframe on drinking, driving, and safety. Elevated to a reframe on masculinity. With the most masculine gladiators of our time, Formula 1 drivers, as unlikely role models.

With the added bonus for Heineken, of course, of selling more beer.