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(Courtesy Blackflag Brewing)
An Australian brewery has been forced to withdraw its ‘Barely Legal IPA’ from the market following a social media firestorm over its name and porn-inspired marketing campaign.
Here’s the deal…
Blackflag Brewing, a Queensland, Australia brewery, has withdrawn its latest beer from the market after news of its name and imaging generated a major social media backlash.
The brewery’s Barely Legal IPA had a logo designed to mimic the graphics of pornography website Porn Hub and an alcohol content of 18.1% ABV. According to the Drinks Business, the brewery had “planned to premiere the new beer at Melbourne’s Great Australasian Beer Spec-tap-ular (GABS) festival, but organizers pulled the IPA due to a surge of complaints in the lead-up to the event.”
Australian feminist writer, Clementine Ford, took to social media to criticize Blackflag Brewery and the beer… “What a totally interesting and funny name for a beer that doesn’t in any way imply you’re a bunch of creeps with a s***ty sense of humor and total disregard for women.”
According to Body+Soul Jayne Lewis, co-founder of Two Birds, Australia’s first female-founded brewery told ABC…
“If you google ‘Barely Legal’ the things that come up are all around young women and involvement in either some sort of pornography of involvement in sexual acts… These are the kinds of things that feel like a real punch in the guts for a lot of women.”
Responding to the backlash, Blackflag posted an apology to its Instagram page, saying it regretted “any offence or distress caused by our recent marketing campaign”. The brewery claimed that its campaign was intended to be “light-hearted and engaging” but “missed the mark”.
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Where do we start….
Blackflag deeply regrets any offence or distress caused by our recent marketing campaign. We acknowledge that a single marketing theme, which was intended to be light-hearted and engaging, unfortunately missed the mark and inadvertently conveyed unintended implications that were offensive.
At Blackflag, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful environment for all of our customers, partners, and stakeholders. We understand the importance of promoting diversity, equality, and sensitivity in all aspects of our business. We recognize that our recent marketing campaign fell short of these principles, and we sincerely apologize for any harm caused.
We have taken immediate action to rectify the situation. The marketing theme in question has been discontinued, and we are conducting a thorough review of our marketing processes to ensure that such missteps do not occur again in the future. Additionally, we will implement a comprehensive diversity and inclusion training program for all employees.
We value the trust and support of our customers, and so our goal moving forward is to learn from this experience and to implement changes that will contribute to a more inclusive and respectful business.
Once again, we extend our sincere apologies to all those who were affected by our marketing campaign. We will strive to do better, to learn from our mistakes, and to rebuild your trust in Blackflag.
Sincerely,
Blackflag Brewing.
