VB and XXXX: ‘Daring, tough and aggressive behavior’
The AARB received this complaint in after the State of Origin rugby league game, where the XXXX beer brand featured on the jerseys of the Queensland Maroons; NSW (New South Wales) Blues jerseys carried VB (Victoria Bitter) logos.
VB logos were also present on the pitch, while there were placards around the field and the NSW team changing room featured promotions for the beer on “substantial sections of the walls”, in the AARB’s words.
Considering the complaint that alcohol and sport should not be associated and young people were likely to be exposed to the advertisements, the AARB panel said the adverts created a connection between rugby league and the XXXX and VB beer brands.
The VB advertisements associated alcohol with “daring, tough and aggressive behavior”, it said, and thus requested the two advertisers to reconsider their sponsorship of rugby league due to its appeal to young people, and their likely exposure to alcohol advertising.
But little seems to have changed: “As of May 13 2013, the AARB had not received notification from either advertiser regarding their sponsorship,” the panel wrote.
(Picture Credit: Paul Young/Flickr)
