NEWCASTLE: Bluetongue has dumped an advertising campaign for its Hunter Draught beer because of the bad publicity surrounding its sponsored rugby league outfit, the Newcastle Knights.
The John Singleton-owned Bluetongue, a multimillion-dollar sponsor of the National Rugby League (NRL) club, and its agency, Peach Advertising, created a campaign featuring several Knights players promoting Hunter Draught and Hunter Old beer.
But the boutique brewer has been forced to dump the ads following the barrage of bad publicity the Knights have faced after terminating the contracts of three of the players featured, while another has retired and another is also tipped to leave the club.
The Knights have been swamped in adverse spotlight for the past few weeks over the dramas, with many supporters voicing their outrage in the media.
The Bluetongue beers Hunter Draught and Hunter Old launched in 2006 and are available primarily in the Hunter region.
The campaign originally ran last year and was to return to screens this year, with $1 million of media spots already believed to have been booked, but has since been cancelled.
Peter Chapman, account manager at Peach Advertising, said “we weren’t part of those discussions”.
“There has been a campaign, featuring Newcastle Knights players and leveraging the Knights sponsorship,” he said.
“The ad has been turned off at the moment, we’re not sure of its plans.”
When contacted, the marketing department at Bluetongue, which also produces Bondi Blonde, referred all enquires to Peach.
John Singleton recently told The Daily Telegraph: "We pulled the ads because the whole theme of the campaign was ruined."
"The Newcastle Knights are all about the close-community and a fantastic team spirit that has always been done there. But what’s happed this year, with the changes and players being retired, moved on or sacked, has changed all that and a lot of people aren’t all that happy about it.”
A copy of the 15-second Hunter beer TVC, with the tagline “Think local, drink local”, is on the Peach website. It can be viewed by going here and clicking on the Hunter Draught/Old link.
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