Re-balance needed?

You would have thought that with all the problems this country has at the moment, political division, corrupt ministers, decline of the NHS, cost of living crisis, housing crisis, bankrupt councils, climate change etc. etc. that we should be prioritising the issues we tackle somehow, rather than getting collective knickers in a twist over more mundane and subjective matters that, frankly, no one gives a tinker's cuss about. Apparently not. 

The Portman Group, an organisation set up to "encourage responsible drinking habits" has this week upheld a "complaint" against the Beak Brewery (Lewes, Sussex) from a single member of the public, that the "bright, cartoon branding" on their cans may have particular appeal to under-18s. It's amazing that anyone would reach this conclusion, and even if they did, so what, I'm sure lots of things appeal to under 18s that they can't have (legally) How about if your product artwork appeals to "everyone" - surely that just means it's good? I'm deeply suspicious of this organisation, as a famous person once said, if you want to know what really motivates an organisation then just follow the money! The Portman Group is funded by a cabal of huge beverage companies, including Diageo, Asahi, Heineken and others, all of whom have many reasons to cause problems for small independent firms that threaten their dominance and produce "disruptive" products that large numbers of people prefer, it's an age old tale.

Beak is a small independent firm that's been in business just over 10 years and this artwork has been their trademark in all of that time, all of their cans feature similar styles of art which is produced by a local artist. This is the first "complaint" about it ever (this says a lot IMO) and now they're going to have to bear the expense and inconvenience of changing all of their can art, probably scrapping a load of existing labels and reacclimatising their growing customer base. One of the criticisms levelled by the Portman Group was that the font used was "similar" to that used on the Mr Men cartoon series, FFS, it's a font, no one cares about a font!

Small businesses in this country have a hard enough time surviving as it is, particularly in the hospitality sector, they certainly don't need this kind of distraction and expense on the basis of a single anonymous complaint by a random member of the public (once in ten years of trading). In contrast this same organisation dismissed a "complaint" by someone that a pump clip from Twickenham Brewery showing a naked woman for a beer called "Naked Ladies" (ah those rugger buggers) was perfectly fine, while I have no problem with the image (it's a cartoon!) the dissonance (or discrimination?) on display is palpable.

This kind of pedantry and woke BS is indicative of how large corporations these days seem to "woke-wash" many things that they do while all the time acting in their own fiscal interests. This obviously has an unrepresentative and often corrosive influence in the town square and many people believe a re-balance is needed. Fortunately we're starting to see things change, with the recent rulings on medical interventions to do with gender dysphoria and things like the recent win by Katharine Birbalsingh over religious interference in schools, different areas of discourse but similar problems of the unscientific  (i.e. based on feelings rather than facts) activism (or corporate interest) of the few affecting the many. I hope this bounce back continues, we need strong laws on important matters in our society but these laws should sit on a solid foundation of facts, evidence and experience not the balance-sheets of huge conglomerates, personal fetish or individual feelings.