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Hot on the heels of our coverage of Brazilian lager brand Polar‘s attempts to get beer drinkers to chat rather than use their smartphones, we’ve stumbled upon another similar initiative. Amstel’s Pause campaign has rewarded passersby with a cold beer for doing nothing for three minutes.

Developed by Bulgarian advertising agency Next-DC, the campaign saw a vending machine installed in a location passed by many professionals on their way from work between 4pm and 9pm. In order to offer them a way to relax after a stressful day, the machine instructed them to simply stand in front of it and do nothing in order to receive a free can of the Dutch lager. Cameras fitted to the machine detected if they tried to reach for their phone or talk to others next to them. The idea was that users could only get the free beer if they took the three minutes to relax and contemplate. According to the company, the machine saw an average of 84 users per day, racking up 4,032 minutes of relaxation time between them. The video below documents the campaign:

The Amstel Pause campaign is another example of a brand getting its customers to switch off from the stress of today’s modern world to better enjoy their product. Which other products could benefit from this kind of promotion?

Spotted by: Murray Orange