Carlsberg is touting its “ZERO Irresponsible Drinking” at Roskilde 2024, promoting a 0.5% IPA and positioning itself as a safety partner to festival-goers. The company’s case story is packaged around a “day” version (low alcohol) and “night” version (with alcohol) – a framing that suggests alcohol is the natural choice once the sun goes down. Carlsberg (via Tuborg) remains a long-time main sponsor, flooding Roskilde with the very product that drives violence, assaults, and accidents at the festival.
The reality contradicts the feel-good storyline. The festival’s 2024 Orange Together report notes parts of the festival area are “less safe” because of the “more intense party and alcohol culture”, and documents persistent unwanted behavior – from verbal abuse to unwanted touching – with men overrepresented in violence and threats, and women overrepresented in unwanted touching. This is the real backdrop to Carlsberg’s “responsibility” push.
Police logs from Roskilde 2024 show the risks in plain language. On July 4, police recorded a reported rape of a 17-year-old in a camping tent and multiple arrests for violence, theft, and drug sales. On July 6, officers responded to assaults, including a 20-year-old sprayed with pepper spray after a clash between groups. On July 7, a 17-year-old reported being assaulted by a group.
Medical staff confirm what drives harm at summer festivals: alcohol intoxication. A Danish medical journal piece quotes Roskilde festival doctors – “alcohol is clearly the worst here” and severe intoxication dominates observations .
The “responsible drinking” script is a classic alcohol industry tactic – shifting responsibility onto individuals and away from the corporate drivers of harm: cheap, omnipresent alcohol and aggressive alcohol marketing at youth-heavy events. Analyses of industry messaging show the term is strategically ambiguous and policy-deflecting – it sounds helpful but avoids effective measures such as higher taxes, restricted availability, and comprehensive marketing limits.
Roskilde is a massive, high-intensity setting that has long worked to improve safety after historic tragedies and ongoing problems with violence and sexual harassment. Offering a branded 0.5% beer while flooding the festival with alcohol promotion and sales is not prevention – it’s distraction, diversion and deception.
Deception is Big Alcohol’s activity to hinder and obscure public recognition of the real effects of alcohol. The focus of the Dubious Five strategy of deception is the public’s recognition of the full extent of alcohol harm, the understanding of the risk caused by alcohol products, and the root causes of alcohol harm and their most effective alcohol policy solutions. Using deception strategies Big Alcohol seeks to fuel cognitive dissonance among the public.
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