Sad news for people who filled their mug with the drug they chug, Duff Beer has had to be pulled from Australian shelves due to the fact that kids might be a bit keen on it.
The favourite beverage of Springfield – and the only beverage that filled your Q zone with pure beer goodness – arrived on our shelves back in May for another crack at producing an actual beer that carries the Duff brand name. But the product unfortunately fell foul of the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code – which is a set of rules that regulates how, and how not, to brand and advertise your booze. In short, it keeps grog dispensing companies from straight-up marketing their swill directly to young kids.
Duff Beer was unfortunately found to have been in breach of the code, due to its inherent association with The Simpsons. A board representing the code explained thusly.
“The association of The Simpsons with the product name and packaging is so strongly entrenched in Australian popular culture that the name and packaging will draw the attention of under 18 year olds. Measures to market the product without references to The Simpsons characters or images cannot be effective to overcome the strong and evident appeal of the product material to underage persons.”
“Through its creation and subsequent promotion in The Simpsons, there is no doubt that Duff Beer is going to be attractive to children and young people.“
Basically, they’re fearful that the attractiveness of the product developed via watching The Simpsons could have caused situations like this.
And think of the children. Oh god, won’t somebody PLEASE think of the children?!
It’s not all bad news, however. Whilst the product has been pulled from production, retailers are allowed to sell the remaining stock they have still on the shelves. So drink up (and up! and UP!) while you still can.
via Herald Sun.
