This is another decision from the first year of the Code and a blast from the past! In October 1996, Alcohol Concern complained about TNT Liquid Dynamite highlighting that the name suggested an association with dangerous behaviour which was emphasised by the packaging designed to look like a stick of dynamite.
The company, Round Imports, disagreed with the complainant’s concerns and stated that the product had never caused or been associated with violent or dangerous behaviour. Instead, the company supplied an indicative list of achievements for dynamite (the explosive) and pointed out that its use had always been beneficially more for the social good than anti-social.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Panel didn’t quite agree with that assessment and concluded that a reasonable person looking at TNT Liquid Dynamite’s packaging, including the product name, would reasonably conclude that there was an association with dangerous behaviour and found the product in breach of the Code.
Unique packaging shapes can often help a product to stand out on shelf but basing such designs on explosives and weaponry will lead to a clear-cut breach of the Code. While these breaches are few and far between, there are a handful of cases that became memorable for doing just that and we’ll revisit this theme later in the series.