What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘punk’?
Feminist protest group Pussy Riot performing while being attacked at the Winter Olympics in Russia? Iranian metal groups playing their music in a country where hard rock is considered blasphemous?
All well and good, but their supposedly fearless acts of rebellion pale into insignificance when compared to a company with a £286 million turnover launching a beer in protest against the Qatar World Cup while showing the Qatar World Cup in its bars.
What have BrewDog done now?
On Tuesday, they declared themselves ‘proud anti-sponsor of the World F*Cup’ and launched their ‘Lost Lager’. In a statement detailing human rights abuses in Qatar, they said: “we’re putting our money where our mouth is, with all the profits from our Lost Lager sold during the tournament going to fight human rights abuse”.
That sounds like a good thing. What’s the catch?
It’s BrewDog.
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I haven’t cringed my entire body inside out recently, so remind me who BrewDog are.
They’re the punk brewers.
How do you know they’re punks?
Because they say they’re punks, and everyone knows the way to prove your punk bona fides is to slap the word ‘punk’ on a product that you sell in Morrisons.
Like how you can tell someone is a nice guy if they keep telling women they’re a nice guy?
Exactly.
punk squirrel IPA pic.twitter.com/pztt7SNZCM
— alistair green (@mralistairgreen) April 7, 2021
How have they undermined this apparent good deed?
They’re showing the World Cup in their bars.
You mean they’ll use the event which they’ve condemned to attract additional custom?
It looks that way.
Ah. Well, at least their Punk IPA isn’t being sold in Qatar. I mean, that would be incredibly embarrassing.
After a picture of their Punk IPA cans being sold in Qatar was tweeted, BrewDog confirmed to the Just Drinks website that their beers are available for sale in the country to which their statement referred when it said: “Raise a glass to the players. To the fans. To free speech. And two fingers to anyone who thinks a World Cup in Qatar makes sense”.
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What’s their excuse?
According to Just Drinks, BrewDog sells its beer to a third-party distributor, which then sells it to the Qatar Distribution Company.
BrewDog told them that this “doesn’t mean it endorses human rights abuses” in Qatar.
Presumably they’ve added a ‘these punks don’t endorse human rights abuses’ sticker to the cans. The cans which are being sold in Qatar.
What next?
‘Are you being oppressed in Qatar and don’t want to get drunk about it? Why not try our new non-alcoholic LGBT-Total beer?’
Hey @BrewDog u seem to have gone quiet all of a sudden since your ambush marketing faux protest virtue signalling got called out.
— Rick O’Shea (@FleetStSnitch) November 7, 2022
Quick reminder though, here’s your big promotion in Qatar right after you signed the deal with the government-owned distributor…in time for the WC! pic.twitter.com/Swha0tq2XN
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