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BEER DRINKING PROMOTION BACKFIRES |
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PROMOTING ALCOHOLISM |
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Beer-drinking promotion backfires
"Mug Clubs" and "Around the World Tours" have become so commonplace at United States bars that even Bennigan's has joined the crowd. But a British brewery recently learned what can happen when such a promotion backfires.
Bank's Brewery, located in West Midlands, began a campaign in its Tap House pubs in which customers who consumed 72 pints in a month were rewarded with tankards, T-shirts and membership in the Real Ale Society. (Seventy-two Imperial pints amount to more than 11 U.S. gallons, greater than a British firkin and about two-thirds of an American keg.)
The Licensee and Morning Advertiser reported that it took Mohammed Malik just four days to drink 72 pints at the Three Crowns Tap House in Dudley, and that he then had 288 more pints in the next four weeks.
Anti-alcohol groups quickly attacked the promotion, and Bank's suspended it. "Under no circumstances would we condone drinking such volumes over a short period of time, because obviously it could pose health risks and encourages the view that drinking such volumes is a clever achievement, which is not the case," said Bank's retail director Roger Hunt.
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