Is it really six weeks since I placed these words before you...
It’s been a wild six weeks for the campaign. How many times can a person say, “Guinness values our independence” before you dive into a barrel of the black stuff? No matter how many packed meetings or Facebook friends, cynics like me would have stuck to their guns and asked, “Eh.... actually, is this really the best approach?”
We reached some sort of dénouement when David Smith of Diageo had walked away from the board of the Stop Out of Control Drinking campaign.
Am I singing from the roof?
Am I belting out 40 verses of ‘I told you so’?
The thing is he hasn’t gone away. Diageo is still funding the campaign. He who pays the piper, anyone?
To be fair to Mr Smith, he did appear on Lunchtime to go through his reasoning. Of course the global company accepts short-term loss of profit, but they are doing “the right thing.” And anyway, they want to ensure longevity for Guinness well into the 22nd century.
So loads of chances to cash in there.
What of the campaign? Its chair, Fergus Finlay, also rolled into the Lunchtime studio. I like Fergus. I like everything he has achieved as a parent of a child who has learning disabilities.
He believes in things.
He truly wants to change Ireland’s relationship with drink. I’m sure he BELIEVES in rolemodels.ie.
Fergus, we believe you but... it ain’t gonna happen. Too many questions have been fired at you over the past six weeks. Too many people have arrived and disappeared from your steering group. Diageo is still funding you. He who pays the piper.
I like Fergus. I would love him to prove me wrong. I really would.
