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Kestrel Super – the drink for all occasions

Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Branwell Johnson, Latest reporters' blogs July 8th, 2008 by Branwell Johnson

Kestrel Super is marketed on its 9 per cent abv – now there’s a thing. Here was I thinking it was marketed on its delicate taste and health-giving properties.

When will someone cut through the layers of obfustication (you can substitute a ruder word) and say that yes, 500 ml super strength lagers are for people with a drinking problem who can be found outside off licences at 9 am. It is so reminiscent of the king size cigarette rolling paper argument – the manufacturers say that they are for lorry drivers. Sure, if they are driving to the far reaches of inner and outer consciousness maaan.

But no-one will admit why super strength lagers containing 4.5 units exist and which demographic imbibes them, least of all the Portman Group. The drink industry’s self-appointed regulatory body has rapped Wells & Young for marketing that “could encourage responsible drinking”. Fine, it recognises this. The next step might be a recommendation to the government that such super strength lagers be scrapped?

Nope, I think Portman Group may argue freedom of choice on that one - but what about my choice not to see the NHS waste valuable resources on treating people suffering the terrible affects of alcoholism when its products like this that contribute to the problem?

Portman Group states that the 500 ml cans should not be cut down in size because of “inconsistencies””. The group quibbles that the Government’s sensible drinking advice of three to four units a day “raises questions over the rationality of treating four units as a strict threshold”. I can feel my rationality imploding. What do you think?

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