A celebration of life at Fiction
Published:Friday | November 5, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Brian Bonitto, Special Assignment Editor
Halloween festivities took a back seat last Sunday evening at the Fiction nightclub in St Andrew, as its guests celebrated of life instead of death.
The Diageo-hosted event saw Mika Hakkinen, two-time Formula One champion, revving up support for the alcohol company's "drink responsibly campaign".
The Finland-born Hakkineen is the ambassador for Johnnie Walker campaign - Join the Pact - which encourages persons to commit never to drink and drive. Worldwide more than 750,000 persons have joined the campaign by simply logging on to www.thepact.com and sign up.
"It's really about bringing it [the message] into the consciousness of people's mind," said Marguerite Cremin, head of corporate relations manager at Red Stripe, Diageo's local subsidiary. "And, for the past four years, Diageo has been spreading this message."
Hakkinen, dressed in black, met and mingled with guests on hand, which included representatives from the local racing fraternity; Mercedes-Benz dealership, Silver Star Motors; Red Stripe, and other specially invited guests who all turned out in support of the campaign.
"I am happy to be in Jamaica," said Hakkinen, who has been the Responsible Drinking Ambassador for Johnnie Walker since 2006,.
"It's good to see how very keen Jamaicans are to be part of the campaign ... it can save lives," he said.
Guests of the evening included Richard and Diana Stewart; James Lechler and Jackie Stewart Lechler; Christopher and Debbie McFarlane; Marjorie Borough; former Jamaican sprinter Juliet Cuthbert; banker Jodi-Ann Chin, local race-car driver Peter and Claudia Rae; Hilary Jardine; Jack and Roz Barnes; Stephen Gunter, Dwight Moore, André Anderson and Warren Castle.
'Join the Pact' began in 2008 and has already been launched in Paraguay, Venezuela, Mexico, United States of America, Dominican Republic, Spain, Hungary, United Arab Emirates, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Brazil and Uruguay.