Guinness – 1st to provide full on-label info
The new labels, designed to help consumers understand what’s in their glass, provides nutritional information on contents including calories, carbohydrates, protein and sugar as well as grams of alcohol per serve and warnings on drink-driving and consuming alcohol during pregnancy.
Guinness claims to be the first global beer brand to provide consumers with this information in a major expansion by Diageo of the consumer-led initiative that was rolled out last year on Smithwicks. This expansion forms part of Diageo’s commitment to its consumers to provide them with information that will empower them to make informed choices on what they drink.
Consumers will see the that a 500ml can of Guinness contains 17 grams of alcohol along with the following nutritional information:
| 738 KJ | 177Kcal | 0g Fat | 0g Saturates |
| 14g Carbohydrates | 1g Sugar | 2g Protein | 0.1g Salt |
The equivalent information will also be provided for a 100ml serve.
“Irish consumers want to make informed choices and increasingly they want to know what’s in their glass,” said Diageo Ireland Country Director Oliver Loomes, “The new Guinness labels are part of our ongoing commitment to engaging with and empowering Diageo consumers so they have the tools to make positive and informed choices about what they drink. While this is a global standard and will eventually feature across all brands in all markets the decision to expand to Guinness 500ml cans means that almost 40% of the Irish beer market will be covered by the new labelling standard, making Ireland a market leader in this regard.”
The labelling forms part of the Diageo Consumer Information Standards launched last July, which will be rolled out on all Diageo products in the next 12 months.
Diageo developed the DCIS based on in-depth research of more than 1,500 consumers around the world including people from North America, Great Britain, Mexico and Spain to ensure the label designs reflect the way consumers want to receive – and can understand – information on alcohol content.
Those Diageo surveyed said that when too much information (especially small text) is placed on the label they tend to ignore it all and less information, clearly presented, was a consistent request across all markets.
The research also found that of all the information that could be included the preference was for alcohol information (standard drink size, ABV, how many units), calories per serve, sugar content, allergens and brand facts such as how a product is made and quality assurances.
Diageo’s research found that good design is key to how information is found and understood
Diageo has made a global commitment to provide locally accurate additional consumer information on its labels in all the markets in which it operates, making it the first global alcohol company to offer such information.
Now, the new consumer standard is also available on Smithwicks, Johnnie Walker Red Label and on Diageo’s new Irish Whiskey Roe&Co. Diageo Ireland hopes the labelling standards which were launched last year will be rolled out across the entire portfolio over the next 12 months.
The company’s Corporte Affairs Director Liam Reid added that over this 12-month period the company also hoped to provide informative messages and nutritional information on its products via beer mats in pubs.
This Spring, the European Commission published a report on the implementation of the Food Information to Consumers Regulations regarding alcoholic beverages in which it gave the European drinks industry a year to put forward self-regulatory proposals to provide this information.
