TOPIC:

Lads, I just had a call from the Advertising Standards Agency who had recently received an email complaining about our ‘Brewed in the EU’ claim. Having explained to the very nice lady about our enterprise and how we put business sense before purist nirvana she was entirely satisfied with our approach and wished us well in our endeavour.

I sincerely hope the offending email to the ASA did not originate from anyone who contributes to this site. If it did then that individual is a disgrace and a bitter and twisted person. I will assume the benefit of the doubt here but I am paying a visit to the ASA to give them a present of some of our beers and perhaps the origin will come out in conversation.

"js_040":1bxrzi57 wrote: I am paying a visit to the ASA to give them a present of some of our beers and perhaps the origin will come out in conversation.[/quote:1bxrzi57]
That sounds like either a threat, or a bribe to gain access to confidential information to be honest.

Do you seriously think that someone on a site dedicated to trying to improve the choice of beers available for the consumer would try to have one closed down? Kind of counter-productive don't you think? You might be better off pointing a finger at someone with something to gain with you gone - like perhaps a mainstream brewer?

How odd. The ASA is a UK body, and therefore not of interest to most of us. Plus it only deals in advertising, not including company-run websites or in-store (or in-pub, presumably) advertising. I don't think I've ever seen an actual ad for Árainn Mhór in any medium dealt with by the ASA.

Did the nice lady mention where the alleged offending statement was printed?

The ASAI, Ireland's equivalent body, doesn't deal with text on packaging, company websites or point-of-sale material.

I doubt any complaint to either body about Árainn Mhór being brewed abroad would be upheld since, as far as I'm aware, Árainn Mhór has no paid ads anywhere.

[quote:2eva586w]The ASA is a UK body[/quote:2eva586w]

It was the Irish Standards folks, seems the whinge was about the bottle labels themselves......

I repeat my post from the other thread where you make these remarks:

"I":xk1iy4r2 wrote: That sounds vaugely threatening. It is more than likely that it came from a member (considering the debate on this thread), but I certainly hope the ASA is not so unprofessional as to reveal the identity of complainants. People are entitled to query and complain as much as they like. This site is an open forum for beer lovers, but those members are free citizens entitled to follow whatever channels they see fit outside of this forum. As long as they are polite and respect each others opinions on this forum we, the admin team, have no gripe.

How could someone complain about your "brewed in the EU" claim though, as it is certainly true. I'm sure it's not nice to have an organisation like that call about your products though, and I smypathise, but certainly nobody could question the brewed in the EU tag.[/quote:xk1iy4r2]
Frankly I'm very annoyed at this thread title. What camp exctly? People are entitled to an opinion and to query anything they see as being "suspect", and you are aware that there are emembers who have not so shiney opinions of your business model. Threatening thread titles or "I'll find out who you are" type comments will not be tolerated.

"js_040":o4ullt4z wrote: seems the whinge was about the bottle labels themselves[/quote:o4ullt4z]

"ASAI Code":o4ullt4z wrote: 1.5 The Code does not apply to:
...
(d) packages, wrappers, labels, tickets, timetables and menus, unless they advertise another product or a sales promotion or are recognisable in a marketing communication;[/quote:o4ullt4z]
I'm surprised they even phoned. It'll be interesting to see what their Complaints Bulletin[/url:o4ullt4z] says about this one.