Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Controversy: Is A Marketing Storm "brewing" In The Run-up To Qatar?

• Published date: 10 November 2022
• Subject Matter: Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Advertising, Marketing & Branding
• Law Firm: Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA)
• Author: Mr David Cakebread (Lewis Silkin) and Brinsley Dresden (Lewis Silkin)

With the 2022 FIFA World Cup now less than a fortnight away, the minds of the football-watching public are turning to Qatar. Given Qatar's human rights record and various other question marks hanging over the legitimacy of the country's bid to host the tournament, many outside of the football community (including brands) are paying closer attention than they would be normally. As we explored in our recent article on the subject, this political spotlight provides prime conditions for ambush marketing campaigns. Ambush is normally associated with businesses trying to pass themselves off as sponsors of an event in order to benefit from the goodwill generated by it. But it is also not uncommon for opportunistic brands to seize upon excitement and interest surrounding events, even if such interest is (as with the Qatar World Cup) largely critical or negative.

Earlier this week, BrewDog (the Scottish brewery) proclaimed itself, through a series of physical billboards and online posts, the "Proud Anti-Sponsor of the World F*Cup". This punchy strapline is backed up by a claim on BrewDog's website that it will donate the profits from all sales of its Lost Lager during the World Cup to human rights charities.

Clever Word-Play, or a Regulatory F*Cup?

In September, we covered a ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) which considered the phrase "Fat c*n't" as harmful, offensive and socially irresponsible (you can read about this story in more detail by clicking here). In BrewDog's campaign, "F*Cup" is a play on words clearly intended to trigger the phrase "fuck-up" when spoken. In this instance, if a member of the public were to complain about BrewDog's ad, prompting an ASA investigation, the recent "Fat c*n't" example tells us that the ASA will look at the ad in its wider context, including the locations of the billboards and the nature of the potential viewers (including whether they are likely to include children). The ASA would also look at the phrase "F*Cup" from the perspective of an average viewer (including children) to reach a view as to whether they are, in fact, likely to read the phrase as "fuck-up".

To view the ads from another angle, it is presumably no mistake that the words "Proud Sponsor of the World Cup" appear on BrewDog's billboards in a strong, black typeface on a white background, with the highlighted additional wording ("Proud Anti-Sponsor of the World F*Cup") added in a lighter colour and in a "graffiti" style, which is more...