The existence of the Code has ensured that product and packaging innovation has been cultivated over time in a responsible manner. However, sometimes there can be an innovation that hits the market that hasn’t been through our free, confidential Advisory Service which could have saved the producer some time and money.
In 2003, a Licensee from Brighton complained about a unique product called X-Plode. Unique because of its shape, X-Plode contained a cream liqueur in a plastic container shaped as a sperm. The producer, Pinsight Financial Services Ltd, explained that the product was intended to be humorous and was not an encouragement to binge-drink or suggest sexual success.
The Panel considered that the product’s sperm-shaped packaging and also the label claim ‘Keep ‘em coming’ linked the product with sexual activity. In view of alcohol’s potential to impair judgement and affect behaviour, it considered that such an approach was undesirable.
The Panel also ruled that the packaging didn’t make it absolutely clear that it was alcoholic, encouraged binge-drinking due to the line ‘Keep ‘em coming’ and particularly appealed to under-18s due to its novel container and cartoon-style sperm illustration. Suffice to say, you can no longer buy an alcoholic cream liqueur in a sperm shaped container!