It has been a hard year, and just when the UK thought that it was free of Covid rules and restrictions, Omicron muscled in.

Stella Artois is supporting hospitality staff who are likely to be subjected to more than the usual Christmas period abuse. It has rebranded as Stella Please and the seasonal branding is incorporated across a range of bar items including mats, taps and t-shirts.

Some patrons who mind their “f***ing manners” will even be rewarded with a discount. The UK campaign is by Mother London. Customers in five UK pubs will receive £1 off their pint of Stella if they ask for it with the words, “Can I have a Stella please?” For each pint ordered in the pubs (in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Newport and Newcastle) until the end of the year, Stella will also donate to Hospitality Action, a charity helping bar and restaurant workers.

The initiative is being promoted with a video fronted by Marco Pierre White, the celebrity chef known for his hot temper and cursing. In it, he encourages people to have some manners, with his own bad language silenced by the sound of a Stella being poured. There are also print ads (below), asking people to “have some f***ing manners.”

The campaign was developed following research among hospitality workers from Stella Artois and YouGov, in which 41% said they were concerned that customers will be ruder this festive season and 40% reported that bad manners among customers are worse since lockdown measures lifted earlier this year. 71% said they had experienced rudeness that range from a simple no please ore thank you (78%) to complaints about the cost of services or products (64%). 

“Christmas can be a difficult time of year for hospitality workers, even more so this year with many preparing for an unpredictable, yet their busiest, festive season in years,” Tim Ovadia, global vice president at Stella Artois, said in a statement. “We wanted to raise awareness on the pressure the hospitality workers may face this season and our research shows how small acts of kindness from the public really can go a long way for them.”

Pierre White added, “Over the years I have witnessed my team be on the receiving end of rude and unnecessary behavior from customers. And today, in the lead up to a very busy Christmas period, I would like to proudly stand alongside the hospitality industry and do my bit and say ‘please be polite’.“