A complaint against Lervig’s Passion Tang Sour Ale has been upheld by the alcohol industry’s Independent Complaints Panel (ICP), the full decision can be read here.
The complaint, made by Zenith Global Commercial Ltd, as part of the Portman Group’s independent proactive audit of the UK market[1], raised concerns under Code Rule 3.1, that the product did not communicate its alcoholic nature with absolute clarity.
The Panel heard from the producer that the can was designed ‘in the round’ with no specific front or back and that the term ‘Sour Ale’ and the ABV (alcohol by volume) were present on the can. On examining the can the Panel noted that the design was fairly busy with an overt emphasis on passionfruit and that the positive alcohol cues were presented in relatively small font size on one side of the can.
The Panel also discussed the can size and the name and noted that the 330ml can and the name ‘Passion Tang’ are both associated with non-alcoholic soft drinks. They noted the inclusion of the descriptor and ABV as well as the pregnancy warning label but that these were in a small font size and were hard to read amongst the design of the can as a whole.
On considering all these elements, the Panel found that they detracted from the product’s alcoholic nature and could cause consumer confusion and so the Panel found that the packaging did not communicate its alcoholic nature with absolute clarity and accordingly upheld the complaint under Code Rule 3.1.
Chair of the Independent Complaints Panel, Rachel Childs, said: “It is not always enough simply to include positive alcohol cues. Producers must ensure that they are clear and sufficiently obvious to counter a significant emphasis on fruit imagery flavours, as was seen in this case.”
[1] Part of the independent proactive audit of the Naming and Packaging of Alcoholic Drinks Code, Sixth Edition Amended