Carbon negative brewery Brewdog has been getting more than its fair share of negative publicity of late, including a run-in with the Advertising Standards Authority over a competition in which thirsty craft beer drinkers could win a solid gold beer can.
Except they couldn’t. As the lucky winners were quick to discover, the cans were in fact just gold-plated.
After receiving 25 complaints, the ASA concluded that Brewdog’s social media adverts punting the promotion were misleading. In its defence, the Ellon-based brewer cheekily suggested “any reasonable consumer who entered the competition” would realise it would never be daft enough to offer a solid gold can as a prize in the first place, since a 330ml lump of the precious metal would set you back something in the region of £363,000.
Brewdog said the cans were actually worth £15,000, based on the cost of making them, the metal used and the somewhat nebulous “quality of the product”.
One winner, Mark Craig from Lisburn, thinks his can “is not worth anything”.
UTC, who vaguely remembers winning a 10-shilling postal order in a People’s Friend competition one time, had nothing but derision for Northern Ireland’s would-be Goldfinger.
“I bet he doesn’t chuck it in the recycling,” he growled.
