Drug Foundation Slams Skinny Blonde

By Ian Neubauer

The Australian Drug Foundation (ADF) has said Skinny Blonde has breached the advertising code by placing a drawing of a topless pin up girl on its label.

Described as the world’s “first interactive label,” Skinny Blonde uses an ink technology that makes the pin up girl’s brassiere fade away when the bottle reaches a temperature of 14 degrees Celsius.

The gimmick has won kudos among young drinkers who use the beer as a party trick and, according to the manufacturer, has earned the boutique beer a growing portfolio of stockists in Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

However, this week it attracted the attention of ADF national policy manager, Geoff Munro, who coughed up a party trick of his own.

“To put a picture of a half naked woman on a beer bottle is the stuff of Benny Hill,” Munro said. “It violates the industry’s own alcohol advertising code, but by the time the ponderous machine is creaked into action by complainants, the offensive image will have done its work. And on the basis of previous decisions there is no assurance that the complaints will succeed.”

Skinny Blonde is the brainchild of three friends – The Vines drummer Hamish Rosser, winemaker Richie Harkman and artist Jarrod Taylor – who first brewed the beer in a household laundry.

Contacted yesterday (Jun 17), the trio refused to comment on the DFA’s allegations.