Coopers cancels Bible Society cans after marriage equality controversy
Coopers Brewery has cancelled its new range of commemorative cans to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Bible Society after three days of controversy around a video produced by the society featuring a discussion about marriage equality.
The video, produced for the Bible Society, features Liberal MPs Andrew Hastie and Tim Wilson debating marriage equality. It was intended by the Bible Society to be the first in a “Keeping It Light” series featuring “light discussions on the heaviest topics”.
The discussion was fronted by strategist Matthew Busby Andrews from “narrative consultancy” Sujet Sydney, which says it is aimed at “values-driven organisations”. Andrews, previously a creative director at Banjo Advertising and before that Singleton Ogilvy & Mather, founded Sujet last year. The Bible Society content appears to be among Sujet’s first work.
You’re a bit late to this party, Mumbrella!
Not really since it’s this morning that their back tracking was announced..
I understand the reason for the rapid back tracking, but why do they need to repeatedly talk up their support of Christian Values, and talk about believing in Jesus Christ?
As an organisation, they can support whoever they want, but overtly aligning yourself with a religious cause, particularly in 2017, seems unnecessarily risky.
It’s funny because Coopers drinkers (anecdotally) tend to be younger inner city progressive Green/ALP voting atheist hipsters, not Jesus-worshipping conservatives.
Coopers better think about how hard they want to be a beacon for Jesus when it misaligns with their customers’ values.
Or South Australians. If you order “a beer please” in a bar in SA, you’ll get Coopers.
It’s God’swill.
Parlous fib piled upon fib is not only un-Christian but wilfully dishonest . Coopers’ athletic about-face and then finger pointing is shameful . They can keep the Liberals onside with their hefty donations , but they’ve lost me – a lifetime Pale Aler – for good .
just goes to show … brands are not free thinking “people” as many marketing folk would want us to believe.
Brands exist to make money. If all of a sudden the 30 000 people who attend Hillsong Conference each year were to go and buy 2 cases of Coopers, I suspect the backtracking from Coopers might not be so quick.
That said, seems odd to have a beer (alcohol) and religious brand in bed with each other.
Why?
Jesus turned water in to wine. There is nothing in Christianity that deters people from enjoying alcohol (responsibly. Your body is a temple, after all).
odd because most alcohol brands do not want to be aligned with either side of a social discussion, but be the vehicle over which the discussion takes place.
it’s not that religion and alcohol don’t mix. they do and always have … and may they long do so!
i just hope that Christians don’t do a back flip on supporting marriage equality if the 30 000 people who attend Hillsong Conference all of a sudden don’t drink their beer.
Coopers should just go back to Kirin & ask them to bid on the company again so they can literally sell out…….mainstreamers trying to be both holy & hip…
I’m no christian, but I can recall a good night on the Coopers could bring out the devil in me!
I’m a Coopers consumer. Couldn’t care less about either organisation’s “values”. I just like the beer and still drink it.
Sad, though, to see an organisation bend so quickly to the noise of the screeching minorities. Who gives a toss what they think?
I’m amused that Adam Bandt has to forego something he likes for party ideology. Try Melbourne Bitter mate. Jeez, hope I haven’t offended anybody.
You mean the beer made with scab labour?
Jesus, water, wine, etc… Not to my taste but not so unusual.
Lot of narrow views focusing here. Beer and Christian church is not at odds today, was 60 years ago, but not today. Points of view discussed over a beer is a good thing, no sides were taken, no drum was beaten, no conclusion reached, just small talk by two parties who have conflicting opinions. Mediator was over enthusiastic in my opinion, but the idea is a good one, and should it be allowed to grow, I believe it has the potential to create a trend.
The biggest pain in the neck for discussions of a political nature, is the fact tat too many people feel obliged to take sides and take a stance.
Sometimes, big issues are best discussed coolly and openly, without the need for protest or labeling or name calling. There is no such thing as marriage equality by the way, just marriage or no marriage. Don’t overlook the fact that God has nothing to do with it, not unless the individuals concerned want it that way. The argument is a legal one, and that will change with or without poitics.
What a shit show. What’s great about family companies is also what’s bad.
Companies have to tread very carefully when they get involved in public issues. However, everyone should drink a dozen and piss on Adam Ant.
This seems to me like an example of ‘native content’ gone horribly wrong.
So it’s now OK again to get a beer with a head. Phew!
And I’m sure her eyes would follow you around a room in a haunted house.
I’m a long time loyal Coopers drinker. Have always appreciated both their drop and the tone of their advertising. I live in a middle class suburb of Sydney, am married with young children, believe in marriage equality and my politics are largely centrist. Whilst I’m not a supporter of organised religion I recognise and appreciate that everyone should be free to have and hold their own views. I’m not sure if I’m typical, but I know there’s a lot of people who are just like me that drink Coopers.
I think brands having a strong alliance with a specific religious organisation is a recipe for disaster, but if Coopers wants to support the Bible Society that’s their prerogative. What strikes me as deplorable on their part is once they worked out that many of their actual drinkers don’t agree with their conservative Christian views, they were happy to throw their friends at the Bible Society under the bus. Neither very Christian nor smart from a business perspective. People now see that their views are less important to Coopers than their sales.
If I was going to forgive Coopers (and I might have as I genuinely love the product), I can’t in good conscious do it now…they don’t even have the guts to stand up for what they believe in.
and yet, everybody seems happy to eat Weetbix, stay at Marriot hotels when on business and devour In N Out burgers while in the US
You say this like you believe this makes people hypocrites. It does not. What it means is that something has been highlighted to people that they weren’t aware of before. It’s simply a fact of psychology that people don’t know everything (and so do not make well-informed purchasing decisions), and tend to be more responsive to what is new than to what is old, and to what is immediate and tangible, rather than what results through a tangled web. People also consider what the competition is in their purchasing decisions, and whether they believe there is much difference between products. And there is a lot of inertia in our decision making too. None of this is hypocrisy.
I stopped supporting Gloria Jean’s after learning about how deeply entwined they are with charities that I don’t support, and which I believe do not accurately represent themselves to the public. I have no objection to religion as personal belief, but I start to care when it is mixed with business decisions, money, misrepresentation and lobbying against social changes that I believe are important for a secular society.
On Weetbix I know they’re closely tied to Seventh Day Adventists, but haven’t considered how the company’s actions may be in conflict with my values. I do not know anything about the Marriot or N Out Burgers (AFAIK I’ve never eaten there). What should I know about them?
I believe that The Bible Society’s marketing company has loudly and incompetently used the tactic of trying to keep a controversy alive, when there is nothing new to add to the debate. Why they’ve done this, with 70% opposition to their position, is debatable. But the high visibility of what they’ve done is why people are questioning whether they want to drink Coopers in what’s a big, broad, beer market.
Halal certificate says hello.
What happened to diversity and equality?
This is discriminatory against Jesus Christ following Christians because it offend the minority of equality followers.
Let all be equal and entitled to their own opinions seems to be lost unless it is in line with a particular agenda.
It’s sad that they back down on Thwor decision. Another example of Aussies scared to say what they think in case they offend someone!
Wonder who’s going to be drinking all that unreleased Bible Beer?
Maybe it was supposed to be an ad for the Bible Society but it’s woefully naive to think the takeout wouldn’t be ‘Coopers is a Christian brand’. Good ads and even 7 minute short films are single-minded. As a piece of communication, this is a mess – is it about beer, gay marriage, God? The tone misses the mark too and that’s what annoys people most I think. Three suited-up Canberra conservatives stumbling through a script that offers little beyond ‘Christians and gays disagree but can be nice about it when both have plenty of money’ doesn’t talk to the beer drinker in any of us. Not even light beer drinkers. The presenter is infuriatingly smug and coquettish and everyone hates politicians in general. Brand is important and I fear Coopers just threw theirs down the toilet. We went from knowing nothing about them to knowing they’re spineless, conservative God-botherers and we suspect they’re homophobic too.
Good creatives never use religion in ads. If you must advertise a religion, be very careful how you do it. Dramatising the fact that Christians are against gay marriage was a stupid and arrogant strategy.
Probably needed the likes of John Safran and Father Bob sitting at the Courthouse or the Espy having an actual unscripted chat.
As for the Bible Society, they never had a brand to ruin in the first place. They should be praying for Coopers’ redemption.
Seems it’s okay for companies to support gay marriage (e.g. ANZ) but not okay for anyone to show both sides of the debate being rationally and respectfully argued. Haters’ll be be burning books next.
I challenge any of the Cooper’s-bashers to demonstrate how this video is anything but even-handed. I put this challenge out on Fairfax 36 hours ago and so far it’s been a deafening silence. Funny that.
Also funny (or not) is how people who claim to be fighting for mutual respect can be so quick to lay in the boot if the perceived issue at hand is religion not sexuality.
Civil discourse is dead. Long live diversity.
Why do the same people who complain about coopers supporting a religious organisation, turn a blind eye to (or indeed actively defend) innumerable companies who financially support Islamic organisations through payment of Halal certification.
Probably because the companies seeking Halal certification are not printing verses from the Q’ran on their products and letting their religious organisation beneficiaries place their products in debates they host. “Let the word be spread with Vegemite” is no less disconcerting than “Cooper’s Lite – God’s Swill.”
Yeah product placement is evil.
Much better to be funnelling proceeds to terrorist organisations.
You peanut.
Seeing as everyone is on their moral high horse, let’s destroy more brands while we are at it whose perceived opinions don’t tow the line of the left.
Put religion to the side, go find any big business/brand and they will be scratching the bag of somebody for gain that will make you sick.
Maybe it won’t be religious and offend you because Christianity is sooooo offensive.
Peanut.
“Ricky bobby”, I am not sure if you are one of those so-called trolls or if you are just pulling my legume. No matter, to many of us who cherish the secularity of our society, religious expressions that are out of context (which means pretty much anywhere outside a church or church-owned or -operated organisation), other than those of personal adornment, are a little irksome.
In terms of lacking context, the side of a beer can would be up towards the packaging for a condom.
But the distinction I was trying to make is between a company paying for product certification (no matter the certifier) on the one hand, and donating to a charity, on the other. For instance, does Coopers support the Bible Society and its values? Yes. Does Kraft support Islamic values? Who knows, they’re merely acquiring a marketing insignia from a certifier to broaden the appeal of their products..
In the Coopers case, the disquiet has been amplified because the Bible Society has views, or is promoting debate, on a matter that, being one of civil rights, is beyond debate. Coopers copped flack because not only was it supporting the Bible Society financially, it was celebrating their bicentenary by placing religious texts on Coopers products. In our secular, tolerant* society, a double fail.
Putting the Bible Society’s views aside, while I have a jar of Halal-certified Vegemite in my pantry, I would be put off buying any of my other preferred brands if religious verses were inscribed on the packaging.
*We do not have to tolerate those denying civil or human rights and rightly shun religiosity and those who promote intolerance.
Um JB, you find the Coopers thing more upsetting that Halal certification?? Wowsers.
They may not be printing Q’ran verses yet, but Australian companies supporting Islam financially is really no different, and whats so bizarre is that the Islamic religion is strictly against gay marriage, it’s seen as a perversion.
Exaclty.
Fools are happy to buy halal certified foods, yet Islam is fundamentally against same sex marriage!
Poor old coopers and Christianity, the religion that can be mocked, kicked and beaten in public without fear of retribution.
Australia, you soft hunts.
Imagine, for a second, that Coopers had done the video WITHOUT the Bible Society’s involvement – same Christian principles, same conversation, just no overt Bible Society logos etc. If that debate finished in an open ended conversation starter about marriage equality (as the original does) the public would be celebrating their efforts. Fact.
It is a fact that what you have written is your opinion. It is also, with respect, somewhat misguided as it presupposes that civil rights should be up for debate ad infinitum and a top PR strategy for a company would be to sponsor platforms for those who oppose them.
My contrary view is that any company that created a platform for the likes of Andrew Hastie and Cory Bernardi to express their views on why the loving unions of same-sex couples should be denied the same legal status as those of heterosexual couples would most definitely not be celebrated.
After all, can you imagine a racial minority celebrating the efforts of a company to promote a “debate” about racial equality? How wonderful. Thank you Coopers for giving Andrew Hastie a platform to tell a sector of our society why they are not to be treated equally before the law. Ooh, look, a handy biblical verse on the side of this refreshing can of lite beer. You had me at “Thou…”
What I believe would be celebrated would be companies (and there is a growing number) urging parliamentarians to adopt legislation that would make same-sex marriage a reality and put this distraction behind us as a Nation (can you believe the USA is ahead of us on this?).
ANZ, Qantas, Carnival are doing such urging and would not countenance creating platforms for the narrow-minded and those who would deny our fellow Australians equal rights. Any company that did so would suffer the consequences, Coopers’ efforts being a case study in the making.
That’s a fact check.
I’m with you Barfly. Coopers have overcomplicated themselves and the brand to billyo.
Remember the famous caption CDP did for Heineken?
“Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach”.
Ran for years, sold heaps. Beer drinkers like it simple.
The problem with this ad is that it is implying we need to talk about this topic more when we don’t. Don’t like gay marriage? Cool, don’t get gay married.But don’t take other people’s rights away based on your personal beliefs. 75% of Australians want marriage equality and stalling progress by continuing to discuss the same crap over and over and over again is just stupid.
I thought that beer brands were trying to move on from the deadbeat beer swilling image, not exemplify it with this cringe-inducing, point-missing, bigots trying to hide their agenda propaganda.
Selling beer ain’t hard. So many missed opportunities with their marketing budget.
This…
https://youtu.be/71ePHW6IAJI