Heineken’s Kronenbourg 1664 commercial first appeared in January 2013. It features ex French soccer player, Eric Cantona, who had a one year contract with the brand. It was banned by the ASA (who received two complaints) this week.
Much ado about nothing?
Or a free advertising campaign across print, TV, online and social media?
Ogilvy & Mather’s Kronenbourg ad is meant to be witty. That it makes use of the rivalry between England and France is not exactly original thinking. Nor is its satirising the celebrity status of sporting stars.
It features French soccer player Eric Cantona, who was a star of English Premier League Soccer in the 1990s, and is now an actor. UK sporting stars are meant to be able to attract gorgeous women and media attention. Cantona finds he is being upstaged in Alsace by the local hop farmers, who are treated like footballers in Britain because they grow the hopes that make Kronenbourg. So he pretends he is a farmer. Text in the corner of the screen states, “Brewed in the UK”.
The print ad states, “If you find a better tasting French beer, we’ll eat our berets”, and the body copy explains that French beer tastes better because it uses a Strisselpalt hop, which is used to brew Kronenbourg 1664. Small print in the bottom corner of the page reads, “Brewed in the UK”.
The ASA eventually acted on two complaints that the ads were misleading because they implied Kronenbourg 1664 was brewed in France and that the hops used to produced the beer were grown in France.
The TVC overstated the beer’s connection with France and would lead consumers to believe the entire brewing and manufacturing process took place there, it said. And the small print in the print ad, that the beer was brewed in the UK “contradicted, rather than clarified” the ad’s main message.
Heineken argued that the beer was French in character because of the Strisselpalt hops (one of a variety of hops used in the recipe) which come from the Alsace region of France, and that the ads do say that Kronenbourg 1664 is brewed in the U.K.
The ASA pointed out that the Strisselpalt hop is not a significant portion of the beer’s make up. And banned the ads from appearing after Wednesday, February 12.
Heineken U.K. Ltd was told not to imply that Kronenbourg 1664 was brewed in France, or that all or most of the hops used in the recipe were grown there. Kronenbourg, now owned by Heineken after a series of acquisitions, was originally brewed in Strasbourg, which is now part of France, in 1664.
Heineken has requested an independent review. “Kronenbourg 1664 is French by any reasonable measure, including brand ownership, history, heritage and the authentic recipe used. We have never made any secret that it is also brewed in the UK, and this fact is clearly communicated within the two commercials that were challenged and on every bottle and can,”
“The Strisselspalt hop is a key ingredient, but it is very common in brewing to use a variety of hops to create the final unique taste of a beer. Again, we have never claimed or implied the Strisselspalt is the only hop used, but we feel strongly that we should be able to celebrate the important role that this particular ingredient plays.”
