Portman Group backs down in BrewDog labelling case
As reported on the BrewDog website yesterday, the The Portman Group have announced a dramatic reversal of their earlier findings with regard to the wording of BrewDog's Punk IPA, Rip Tide Stout and Hop Rocker labels (which saves you from having to plough through another essay-length rant from me, at least...)
The BrewDog press release sums up the lads' reaction to the decision:
"It is a victory for common sense, the intelligence of the consumer, small independent producers and freedom of speech; it is a victory that BrewDog had to fight tooth and nail for. We refused to roll-over and be bullied into changing our packaging by what is basically a cartel funded by our larger competitors. We were determined and stood our ground to keep our dream and our business alive."
Let's hope that a similar announcement will be forthcoming regarding the Sinclair's Orkney Brewery's Skull Splitter vs Portman Group case before too long, eh? Nothing on the Orkney Brewery news page just yet (or on Google News), but they might be slow in posting.
Back to BrewDog's outspoken spokesman James Watt for a further comment on the situation:
"A few weeks ago I (James Watt) publicly called for the Portman Group to be permanently disbanded and banished into Room 101. I feel that their misguided, catastrophic campaign against us only serves to strengthen that call."
I think James is right... and I think it will be the drinks industry giants - the corporate members of the Portman Group - that will pull the plug.
It seems to me that this whole farcical situation has been an absolutely classic example of a twentieth century bureaucracy completely failing to grasp the realities of the modern era. In the past, I'm sure the Portman Group was able to confidently throw its weight around against targets both legitimate and scapegoat without much fear of comeback or reprisal. But now they're having to come to terms with opinion power on a hitherto unprecedented scale, conveyed via social media.
In the past the best a small brewery could probably hope for was a standard protest against the Portman Group's decision, knowing that this wouldn't really help them because that protest would be controlled and contained within the strictures laid down by the Portman Group's own procedures. But now, that same small brewery is able to take that protest to an external and sympathetic audience; to amplify its voice by gathering support from across the globe, from fans and customers, from experts, from lobby groups such as CAMRA.
What's more, that process of opinion gathering and protest amplification can serve to turn the spotlight back onto the Portman Group's own corporate members and the inherent hypocrisy of their own business practices. Suddenly the industry cartel's own pressure group becomes a lens through which attention is focused back on the cartel's own activities. So for that reason alone, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Portman Group wasn't quietly disbanded at some point in the next twelve months and its demise conveniently blamed on the credit crunch.
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