Image Vs Taste

Brewery Bird's Rant of the Month....

The recent drama surrounding a now rather infamous beer in the House of Commons Bar (Slaters Top Totty, for those of you who missed it – where have you been?) has provoked a somewhat frenzied blogging and tweeting onslaught of outrage v the get-a-grip brigade, of which Brewery Bird is a staunch supporter of the latter.

So get a grip!

If you haven’t seen the aforementioned beer, Slaters Top Totty depicts a bikini clad blonde with bow tie off-set with bunny ears. It sometimes accompanied by a description which is rather obviously worded to describe both said blonde and beer.

The beer was withdrawn from sale at the commons bar after a complaint by Shadow Equalities Minister Kate Green who felt a nearly naked woman on a pump clip was offensive.

Meanwhile, Slaters reported sales of the Totty Pot, (which I can report as highly drinkable), have soared and have defended their 15 year old brand as “tongue-in-cheek, British humour”.

As a member of the ‘fairer sex’, am I offended by this Benny Hill-style attempt at raising a smile, or am I just a little more interested in the actual beer and whether it’s any good or not?

As an ale-drinker, what draws my attention to the choice of beers on the bar?

I’m definitely more interested in the beer and believe that there is nothing wrong with Slaters pump clip.

The lowly pump clip is certainly an important communicator between brewer and customer; it has to have impact and influence – it has to say “Drink Me”.

Personally, I love it when brewers include a few tasting notes on the pump clip, better still when the bar in question is educated enough to provide small samples next to the pump to establish colour.

Pump clip imagery, let’s face it, can sometimes be confusing, humorous, straight to the point or, as in the case above, a red rag to the right bull.

Advertising certainly doesn’t come cheap and neither does costly marketing campaigns and superior branding when you’re a smaller brewery such as Slaters – however, I’ll bet they’re not regretting their smaller marketing budget now!

What do you think? Do you believe that this beer pump clip is harmless tongue-in-cheek humour or do you find it offensive? Write in and let us know at stuff@theocelot.co.uk