“What have BrewDog done this time?”
Well, since you ask, the latest charge to appear on the Scottish brewer’s rap sheet is that – with its latest OOH campaign to promote a recipe refresh for Punk IPA – it is using suicide as a marketing tool to sell beer.
Except it isn’t really, is it?
The billboard that has provoked the latest backlash against the controversial brewer features an image of head of procurement Alan Owen studying a can of the refreshed Punk. A strapline reads that the beer “tastes like commercial suicide” – a reference to the fact that BrewDog claims its new Punk IPA recipe costs more to make, but has not been rolled out alongside a price rise.
‘A new low’
The advert, if BrewDog’s ever-growing legion of critics online are to be believed, is “appalling”, “tone deaf”, and “a new low” for the brewer.
In a social media post last week, non-profit organisation Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) joined the pile on, labelling the campaign “grossly insensitive”.
“Suicide isn’t a punchline. When suicide is the biggest killer of men under 40, using a national emergency as a shock tactic to sell beer leaves a bitter taste in our mouths,” it said. “If suicide is on a billboard, let’s make sure it’s about helping people get the vital support they need, reducing the stigma and helping people find hope when things get tough.”
Suicide Prevention Scotland went further still, telling The National: “This is a hugely disappointing, entirely inappropriate advert. Mocking suicide is neither clever nor funny and adds to the stigma and distress people impacted by suicide feel, and can cost lives.”
Manufactured controversy?
Now, it goes without saying that the work of CALM and other suicide prevention charities is both incredibly important and highly laudable. And suicide and male mental health are clearly serious topics that shouldn’t be made light of, and certainly not used for capital gain.
But this latest controversy feels entirely manufactured.
The term ‘commercial suicide’ is widely used to describe a business decision likely to cause damage to a company’s financial health. It exists within everyday parlance and is even the name of a London-based drum & bass record label.
To insinuate that its use by BrewDog – in entirely the correct context as part of a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign – is in some way tantamount to trivialising actual suicide feels like a gigantic leap. Indeed, senior figures at the brewer are understood to be mortified by the way the campaign has been misinterpreted.
BrewDog’s problematic past
There are a great many things BrewDog has done in the past that have been offensive, shameless, inappropriate, tasteless and – at times – unethical. From the time its founders dressed up as sex workers to promote its equity fundraising efforts, to when it announced it was ceasing to pay staff the real living wage, there have been plenty of times when criticism that has come the businesses’ way has been entirely justified.
And unfortunately for BrewDog, once a business starts to develop – or arguably seeks to cultivate – such a reputation, it is inevitable that future actions are viewed through that prism.
But this time, before sharpening our pitchforks, it’s worth reflecting on what the response would have been if this slightly naff-but-really-not-at-all-offensive campaign had been rolled out by any other brand.
I suspect the outrage would be considerably more muted.
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