Tuborg receives criticism for Christmas beer ad: Called unrealistic, sentimental, and cartoonish

Tuborg faces criticism for Christmas beer ad: Called 'cozy', 'innocent' and 'cartoon-like'

Two organizations criticize Tuborg for setting a link between Christmas and community. Carlsberg, which owns the Christmas beer, says it wants to change alcohol culture.

The sale of Tuborg's Christmas beer is launched on the first Friday in November. (Archive photo) (Photo: © Linda Kastrup, Ritzau Scanpix)

By

Silas Bay Nielsen ( [email protected] ) 42 min. ago

From 8:59 pm in the evening, the Christmas cheer flows into pubs and bars across the country. Here, Tuborg opens the door for men to the Christmas beer.

This happens, among other things, with the well-known cartoon ad packaged into 'Jingle Bells' bell ringers, a thirsty reindeer and Santa Claus in his hat.

However, the marketing of J-day and Christmas beer receives criticism from both Cancer Foundation and the organization

- J-day we see as a really clever marketing stunt from the industry. It's succeeded in setting a link between Christmas and community, and that it's equal to beer, says Maria Koch Aabel, director of Alcohol and Society.

She criticizes the ad for being "innocent" and playing on the nostalgic, which is part of creating an impression that Christmas beer is equal to community.

- They market J-day with the here cozy, innocent little wagon in a cartoon universe and a melody that we all know and remember from childhood, she says.

Therefore, she believes that Tuborg should instead make campaigns about a "responsible" and "sustainable" drinking culture.

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Nearly half of people experience drinking pressure

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The criticism comes at the same time as Cancer Foundation has published a study on Danish alcohol habits. It shows, among other things, that 45 percent of us have experienced drinking pressure. It is especially the younger ones who experience that they have been pressured to drink.

Here, it is also believed that Tuborg's ads are contributing to a drinking culture.

- J-day is the industry's invention and a celebration of the fact that Christmas beer has come. It's a way to mark a product that it's succeeded in creating a culture around, says Peter Dalum, project manager in Cancer Foundation.

He points to statistics from the National Institute of Public Health, which have shown ( https://alkohologsamfund.dk/files/media/document/Alkoholrelaterede%20d%C3%B8dsfald%20blandt%2015-24-%C3%A5rige%202010-2019.pdf ) that one young person between 15 and 25 years on average dies each month due to alcohol.

Both Cancer Foundation and Alcohol and Society want the rules to be tightened, so that marketing, availability in supermarkets and prices of alcohol are restricted.

- J-day is really a good image of how much and how alcohol fills our culture, and how marketing can be allowed to fill because we don't have particularly good regulation around it, says Maria Koch Aabel from Alcohol and Society.

But don't you think that the individual can make their own decision?

- Yes. But many think that alcohol fills too much. We can't put the responsibility on the individual and our children and young people to change the culture. Alcohol is mass-produced and has been part of our society, and it's the politicians who need to be on the scene, says Maria Koch Aabel.

Carlsberg has chosen to make several versions of the well-known ad, where the brewery "communicates responsibly":

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Carlsberg: We are part of changing the culture

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At Carlsberg, which owns Tuborg's Christmas beer, it is stated that J-day is about community and traditions. But Jeppe Boel, marketing director for the Tuborg brand at Carlsberg, also says that they want to be part of changing alcohol culture.

- We have relaunched our drink with a respect universe earlier in the year and have had it running at festivals. We also use J-day to say: 'Come out and have fun. But don't let yourself be pressured to drink too much', he says.

There is a mobile accident unit on Rådhuspladsen on J-day. And there are Samaritans on the street. Doesn't that say something about people drinking too much?

- Yes, and that's why we need to have the here conversation about enjoying yourself and stopping drinking too much. Or as in Tuborg-speak, 'let's stop being too festive'.

How does the intense marketing of J-day - which includes Christmas beer with percentages and free Christmas beer - fit with the motto drink with respect?

- We think it fits well. We give out one Christmas beer per person, he says.

- If there's one place you can have that conversation, it's in the evening, where there are many who are out, says Jeppe Boel.

In addition to the drink with respect campaign, Carlsberg will also send 20 so-called water dispensers to bars in the largest cities in the evening. They will serve water if you want it.

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