Source: Communities Against Alcohol Harm
“If you want to drop F-bombs in your advertising, now you can, thanks to a new decision from the Advertising Standards Authority” said Nathan Cowie, Community Affairs Advisor with Communities Against Alcohol Harm.
“Dropping an F-bomb is now considered to be consistent with a high standard of social responsibility to consumers and society. Dropping an F-bomb does not meet the threshold to be likely to cause serious or widespread offence” Mr Cowie said.
Alcohol company Good George markets a range of gin, known as the Fuckery series, the self-proclaimed “Official Gin of the Ongoing Clusterfuck”, since the onset of the COVID-19 period and through the post-COVID era.
Good George marketed eight gin products named, labelled, and listed on their website as:
– Fuck Off 2020
– For Fuck’s Sake 2021
– What’s Fucking Next 2022
– What Sort of Fuckery is this?!
– The Fuck Stops Here 2023
– Fuck This Shit 2024
– Fuck Off 2024 (Black Edition)
– The Fuckening 2025
Under the Alcohol Advertising and Promotion Code, all alcohol advertising is required to be prepared and place with a ‘high standard’ of social responsibility, a higher standard than the Advertising Standards Code, which requires a ‘due sense’ of social responsibility.
“We submitted a complaint on behalf of a concerned community stakeholder who works as a counsellor dealing with the aftermath of sexual assault and alcohol abuse. They were concerned about the harm they see from alcohol in the community, and the incredibly poor standards of social responsibility on display from this advertiser.”
“The Advertising Standards Complaints Board has not upheld parts of this complaint related to the liberal use of F-bombs in the naming, labelling and advertising of these products.”
“Unless fixed by a higher authority, this creates a precedent where advertising standards are very permissive of profanity, and the bar for a high standard of social responsibility is significantly lowered.”
“The Advertising Standards Authority’s own guidelines are very clear, that advertisers must not use offensive or provocative copy to attract attention or promote the sale of products, however this seems to have been ignored in the decision.”
Crisis Management Pack
The Advertising Standards Complaints Board, along with the advertiser Good George did acknowledge the website advertising for a gin and tonic combo pack was breaching Rule 1(d) of the Alcohol Advertising and Promotion Code.
The rule stipulates alcohol advertising and promotion must not suggest that the effects of consuming alcohol can improve or enhance a situation.
Advertising for the Crisis Management Pack suggested that a year like 2025, with all the challenges it presented, could be enhanced by pouring a stiff G&T and riding out whatever large or small clusterf-cks needed surviving.
See copy removed from the Good George website below:
When life throws a year like 2025 at you, sometimes the only strategy is to pour a stiff G&T and ride it out. The Crisis Management Pack is your emergency kit for surviving clusterf-cks large and small.
Inside you’ll find:
- 1 x The Fuckening 2025 Gin, because this year needs its own spirit.
- 1 x What Sort of Fuckery Is This?! Gin, for the moments that leave you speechless.
- 1 x Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic (500ml bottle), Crafted with a blend of essential oils from herbs gathered from around the Mediterranean shores.
Whether you’re dealing with Monday, managing the family group chat, or just bracing yourself for whatever fresh nonsense 2025 dishes up, this pack has you covered. Think of it as your personal survival kit, less first aid, more first pour.
Disclaimer: Won’t fix your problems, but will make them a hell of a lot funnier.
“The Crisis Management Pack advertising copy clearly articulated the suggestion that consuming alcohol could enhance a situation, and that clearly breached the Code. The Advertising Standards Complaints Board acknowledged the “Fuckery” series of gin products was created during the COVID-19 pandemic as a response to the major strife that was experienced by many people.”
“In naming these products they way they have, it’s hard not to reach the conclusion that the consumer takeout of this series of products is that consuming them will enhance the situation that was the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing challenges of the post-COVID era.”
“The Crisis Management Pack said the quiet part out loud, but the Advertising Standards Complaint Board has failed to pick up on the advertiser’s suggestion that these products, stylised as the ‘official gin of the ongoing clusterf-ck’ would enhance a situation they have labelled an ongoing clusterf-ck.”
“The real clusterf-ck here is the lowering of standards of advertising self-regulation, and the cavalier attitude of the alcohol industry to marketing their harmful products” Mr Cowie said.