HCMC – An international photo contest award ceremony themed “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk” was held online on December 15, naming Vietnamese photographers as winners in some categories.

The event was part of the “Power of No” campaign against drink driving, conducted by an alliance of 28 partners representing multilateral organizations, community nonprofits, the private sector, governments and social organizations.

Vietnam’s most popular “Audience Vote” photo came from Duy Toan Nguyen, who pretended to take a friend’s motorcycle keys and order them a taxi home instead of driving drink. The first prize was secured by Tran Thi Tu Nhi. Other winning photo ideas to stop a friend from drink driving were tying a friend’s hands with rope, stealing a friend’s keys and running away and wrapping a friend in plastic wrap.

The international photo contest was launched this autumn, attracting hundreds of young adults across Southeast Asia.

Through a targeted social media strategy and influencer marketing, the contest reached over seven million young people with more than 450,000 likes, comments and shares in two months across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and PartiPost. Contestants submitted photos showing their creative ideas to stop a friend from driving under the influence of alcohol.

The photo contest successfully motivated young people to learn more about how alcohol works in the body, legal obligations and useful tips to avoid drink driving.

By participating in the contest, young people were compelled to think critically about their own actions and relationship with drink driving, were subconsciously exposed to repeated messaging over time and were incentivized to spread the word to their friends.

The “Power of No” public awareness campaign is a regional effort aimed at raising awareness among young adults of drinking age about the profound consequences of drinking and driving.

In Southeast Asia, road crashes claim the lives of 2,000 people a day, while in Vietnam alone, 32% of men’s road crash injuries and 20% of women’s road crash injuries are related to alcohol. Furthermore, according to the World Health Organization, 34% of Vietnam’s road deaths involve alcohol.