Drinking responsibly could earn you a cheap ride home thanks to a new campaign. Photo/File
Drinking responsibly could earn you a cheap ride home thanks to a new campaign. Photo/File
Drinking responsibly can now see you rewarded with cheap Uber rides after a night on the town.
A new chatbot run through Facebook messenger has been developed to send messages to users from their "sober self" reminding them to drink safely.
The bot would send messages to users reminding themto go home at the time they planned, to hydrate and to eat food to make sure people had a safe and fun night out.
The joint initiative between responsible drinking campaign Cheers! and ridesharing app Uber allowed people to set a time to go home and a personal reminder before they started drinking.
Punters could be rewarded with discounted Uber rides if they went home at the time they originally set for themselves.
Cheers! spokesman Matt Claridge said the aim was to help young New Zealanders make better choices while out drinking through a channel they use every day.
"Many of us have had a situation where our best intentions to go home early were forgotten once we were out having a few drinks with friends," he said.
"The Sober Self Bot brings to life that original idea you had so that you can remind yourself of those plans. Maybe it's that you wanted to get up early to go to the gym, or take the kids out for a bike ride, or catch up with mates."
Uber New Zealand general manager said people could already get home safely with the push of a button but the app was to help them make good choices about when to call it a night.
"The Sober Self Bot is all about taking this a step further, and giving Kiwis a fun and easy way to keep themselves honest when the peer pressure to stay for another round kicks in," he said.
The bot was part of a wider campaign around responsible drinking which will be launched on the Jono and Ben Show tomorrow night.
