Carlsberg Malaysia should not include any advertisements during their disinfecting campaign in schools

The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) would like to relay the mixed feelings we have about the news that Carlsberg Malaysia, through its Safer Schools campaign, is sponsoring disinfection services for 680 vernacular schools in the Covid-19 red zones as well as donating handheld thermometers to all eligible vernacular schools.

In this time of uncertainty, it is imperative that big corporations do their corporate social responsibility (CSR) by contributing resources that they deem appropriate to ease the burden Covid-19 has brought on us. Carlsberg Malaysia’s aim to ease the worry of parents by disinfecting schools is commendable.

However, we would like to remind Carlsberg Malaysia as well as the Ministry of Education that the company needs to keep in mind exactly what kind of business it is operating. It is a brewery that makes and sells alcoholic drinks and society at large generally considers the consumption of alcoholic drinks a vice due to the negative effects it induces. 

It is vital that Carlsberg Malaysia does not include any advertisements of their products as most companies are wont to do when they sponsor something as they are dealing with schools and schoolchildren. Children are very impressionable and should not be exposed to things that can have dangerous effects, such as the alcoholic drinks that the company sells.

Letter to the Editor, 24 April 2020