Scottish brewing company BrewDog announced itself as an “anti-sponsor” of the football World Cup in Qatar saying that it would be donating the profits on sales of its Lost Lager to fighting human rights abuses.
The brewer, which has been known for its semi-viral marketing in the past, released a statement on Twitter saying that it would be ‘anti-sponsoring’ the World Cup in Qatar.
“This isn’t a World Cup. It’s a World F*Cup,” the company said.
“Football is meant to be for everyone. But in Qatar, homosexuality is illegal, flogging is an accepted form of punishment, and it’s OK for 6,500 workers to die building your stadium. That’s why we’re kicking off. And we’re putting our money where our mouth is, with all the profits from our Lost Lager sold during the tournament going to fight human rights abuses.”
While the initiative is doubtless well-intentioned and the World Cup has come under a huge amount of flack, including from our own Socceroos, BrewDog has come under fire for charitable action.
For one, the company is still continuing to show the World Cup games in its bars and pubs around the world.
“We are, because don’t want [sic] to stop people watching the football. Corruption shouldn’t stop this. Besides, the more football we show, the more Lost is sold, the more money goes to charity,” the company tweeted.
The company also came under fire after former US workers said that CEO James Watt’s behaviour made them feel “uncomfortable” and “powerless.”
An open letter signed by former employees last year suggest that the company fostered a toxic workplace environment. “The single biggest shared experience of former staff is a residual feeling of fear,” wrote the former employees.
“Fear to speak out about the atmosphere we were immersed in, and fear of repercussions even after we have left,” wrote the employees.
According to one Twitter user, BrewDog seems to have entirely changed its mind of football.
When I started working for Brewdog, the staff induction covered the entire company and it was explained that they don’t have TVs in their bars showing football cause they don’t want to attract “that type of people” https://t.co/yc2FeKTfl6
— Shutts (@Shuttsapalooza) May 12, 2022
The company also seems to have failed to do its research on the working conditions in the stadiums.
Saying 6,500 workers died building stadiums isn’t factually correct and makes the whole thing feel like a bantz PR game. Get the facts right if you’re going to make the many legitimate criticisms of Qatar, especially if you’re doing it to sell lager. https://t.co/1TsYcRXf5a
— Joey D’Urso (@josephmdurso) November 7, 2022
“We thought long and hard about whether we wanted to show matches in our bars but decided to do so for two reasons,” a BrewDog spokesperson told PRWeek via email.
“One, if you love craft beer and you also love football, you shouldn’t be denied the chance to enjoy them together just because FIFA is corrupt. Two, all profits from Lost Lager sold during the tournament will be donated to human rights charities. We will raise a lot more money if we show the matches in our bars. ”
CEO Watt, appears to have brushed off the concerns as a “bit of the usual twitter hate.”
What an incredible reaction to our world cup campaign.
And if a bit of the usual twitter hate is the price we have to pay for massively raising awareness of the continued human rights abuses in Qatar and the obvious corruption of FIFA, then so be it. pic.twitter.com/q3I3hX9pEf
— James Watt (@BrewDogJames) November 7, 2022
