Wednesday 15 April 2009

(Don't) Take Courage


For more than 50 years beer drinkers have been urged to “Take Courage” at their local pub, but now the brewers of the famous ale may have to find a new slogan after the advertising watchdog banned a poster promoting the brand.

The offending poster depicts a man with his partner and the implication that she is about to ask the inevitable "Does my bum look big in this?" The Advertising Standards Authority agreed that the poster implied that " the beer would give the man enough confidence to tell the woman that the dress was unflattering."

Wells and Youngs, the brewers said they believed the poster depicted a scenario many men could relate to and that it did not imply the beer would give the man courage, change his mood or give him confidence.

Another bit of political correctness? Would anyone genuinely be offended? I kind of doubt it. And if most people needed a drink to tell their better half her bum looked big, I'll bet they'd choose something other than Courage to give them courage.

16 comments:

Alistair Reece said...

What silly politically correct nonsense!

John West said...

I'm not *offended* at all. But it is really crass lazy advertising, so a big part of me is mighty happy I won't have to see it on the Tube, regardless of my general agreement that the UK's complain-athon habit has gone too far.

(Though I see this - as with absurdly OTT health and safety stuff - as chiefly a result of a US-imported over-litigiousness rather than 'political correctness gone mad'. After all, the much-maligned PC has helped make racist and homophobic insults taboo, which I'm sure all here would regard as a plus.)

Neville Grundy said...

Wells & Young said the advert "did not imply the beer would give the man courage, change his mood or give him confidence". Why bother drinking their beer then?

Angry Nige said...

"Would anyone genuinely be offended?"
Quite Funny Tandleman. A Nazi sympathizer now giving opinion on the offensiveness of beer adverts.
I've seen it all now.

Neville Grundy said...

I've known Tandleman for around 25 years, and can confirm he is not a Nazi sympathiser. As a socialist and anti-racist myself, I would not say this unless I meant it.

Dave25 said...

The guys over at the Daily Mash were quick off the mark about this:

http://tinyurl.com/dyx8s3

Paul said...

Personally, I believe in free speech. So if someone wants to call someone a fucking nig-nog or someone wants to call me a fat, pervy piece of shit then legally they should be allowed to. If any party initiates violence, throw the book at them - that's not on.

Erlangernick said...

I've spent quality time with der Tandleman in the Vaterland, and can personally attest that if he *is* a nazi sympathiser, he hides it pretty well. I find the accusation mind-boggling. No, I find it insulting.

Tandleman said...

Me too Nick and Nev. But these are baseless smears that would never be repeated in person by someone who isn't anonymous.

However with this and with being haunted by a troll (unfortunately some find it funny) that also talks a lot of rubbish about me, it reminds you of what a dangerous place the internet can be. As my old Mum would say though "when they are picking on you, they are leaving someone else alone". Cheers Mum - that's a comfort.

It's enough to either make you stop blogging or to drive a man to drink and then write about it. I had some good beer yesterday. We'll see.

Unknown said...

Don't loose heart Tandleman, I might not agree with all your views but I enjoy them none the less.

Nazi sympathiser? What planet is that guy on?

Tandleman said...

I try and put balance into what I say, which makes the trolling and abuse all the more annoying. For me at this point in time, the bad things outnumber the good, but I also get the feeling the whole UK beer blogging scene is subdued and diminished at the moment.

Erlangernick said...

I just looked around at the sausage blog for the first time...what a bizarre trip. I mean, WTF?

Neville Grundy said...

"For me at this point in time, the bad things outnumber the good." I can understand why you might feel that way, but it strikes me that nearly all the entries on your blog are by people who like reading it and posting their comments, disagreements, jokes, or irrelevant musings ~ I’m especially good at the latter, judging by some of your responses to me! But we wouldn't be there if we didn't want to be.

Angry Nige should not throw such abuse around when he clearly doesn’t know who he’s talking about.

Tandleman said...

Ho Hum. I suppose. Back to beer then!

Angry Nige said...

Tandleman, so you and the German blogger bloke are not the same? Very confusing, although I do find some it rather funny. He's got some kind of radio broadcast on there now. Sorry for the references.

Tandleman said...

His first radio broadcast lacked the insane laugh. Glad he's corrected that at least.