Heineken UK to challenge ASA Kronenbourg ruling

13-Feb-2014 - Last updated on 24-Jun-2024 at 14:15 GMT

Heineken UK is to challenge the ASA's ruling

Heineken is to challenge an Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruling after it upheld two complaints that the brewer misled consumers about the provenance of Kronenbourg 1664.

The brewer said it was “very disappointed” by the ASA’s decision that two Kronenbourg adverts should not again appear in their present form. It has submitted a review request to an independent adjudicator after it found “significant flaws in the ruling”.

Complaints

The first complaint concerned a TV advert starring ex-Manchester United football star Eric Cantona. It showed how men in the French region of Alsace were treated like English footballers because they “grow the noble hops that make Kronenbourg the taste supreme”. The hops in question, Strisselspalt, are specific to the Alsace region.

Even though the ad carries ‘brewed in the UK’ screen text, the ASA ruled that the degree of emphasis on the connection with France “would lead consumers to believe that the entire brewing and manufacturing process took place in that country”.

The second complaint, a press advert for the brand that included the strapline ‘If you find a better tasting French beer, we’ll eat our berets,’ was upheld on the basis that it implied that a significant majority of hops used in the brewing process were sourced from France.

No secret

A spokesman for Heineken said the company has never made any secret about the fact that Kronenbourg is brewed in the UK, and that this was clearly communicated within the two adverts that were challenged.

The spokesman said: “We are clearly very disappointed about the ruling. We work to the highest standards when we create our TV commercials and we take every care to operate within the letter and spirit of the relevant industry codes.

“Kronenbourg 1664 is French by any reasonable measure, including brand ownership, history, heritage and the authentic recipe used. 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.”

He added: “We have already submitted a request to the Independent Reviewer of ASA Adjudications, for it to be reconsidered as we believe that there are significant flaws in the ruling. In the meantime, we have agreed that the two advertisements will not be shown again in their current form.”

In 2011, the ASA ruled that a previous Kronenbourg ad was misleading.