Pabst Blue Ribbon Apologizes For Inappropriate ‘Dry January’ Tweets

Whereas many would-be drinkers are beginning off “Dry January” with one thing alcohol-free, Pabst Blue Ribbon is ringing within the new 12 months with an apology.

Earlier as we speak, the beer model’s official Twitter account posted a collection of questionable tweets criticizing the month designated for abstaining from alcohol. Some noticed the commentary as insensitive to anybody slicing again on alcohol this month. Different tweets—together with one viral submit that has now been deleted—had been even more explicit.

Whereas PBR’s Twitter account didn’t publicly tackle the inappropriate posts, they had been deleted by Monday afternoon. When requested for remark, the corporate wouldn’t elaborate on its social media technique or the “Moist January” marketing campaign. Nonetheless, Nick Reely, Pabst Blue Ribbon’s vp of selling, mentioned “we apologize in regards to the language and content material of our current tweets.”

“The tweets in query had been written in poor judgment by considered one of our associates,” Reely mentioned in an announcement emailed to Forbes. “On no account does the content material of those tweets mirror the values of Pabst and our Associates. We’re dealing with the matter internally and have eliminated the tweets from our social platforms”

Pabst Blue Ribbon’s “Moist January” marketing campaign started on Jan. 1 when it wrote “what if January wasn’t dry” together with a photograph of beer-carrying individuals in rain jackets. The subsequent day, PBR tweeted once more: “Most months have 30 days. Some have much less. Just one month has 31 days. Moist January.”

Whereas many Twitter customers had been fast to remark and create associated memes of their very own, no less than one non-beer model additionally weighed in: Slim Jim’s official account replied this morning to PBR’s now-deleted tweet, writing that “Authorized will need to have off till the 4th.”

“For all of the fuss about PBR’s beyond-tasteless tweet that received deleted, they nonetheless are working tons of tweets about Moist January,” wrote David Berkowtiz, a senior vp of company advertising at Mediaocean. “That’s in equally poor style, on condition that it’s grade college sexual innuendo mixed with making gentle of individuals attempting to push again towards alcoholism.”

Dry January dates again to a decade in the past when in 2012 the British charity Alcohol Change UK got here up with the concept to problem individuals to keep away from alcohol for all the month after the vacation season. In 2013, the group launched its first Dry January marketing campaign starring British journalists Alastair Campbell and Peter Osborne. Though simply 4,000 individuals participated the primary 12 months, the group says 130,000 signed as much as go dry final 12 months.

Main manufacturers together with Budweiser, Heineken and Brooklyn Brewing have been more and more releasing alcohol-free choices. PBR even launched its personal 0% beer again in 2019 on the corporate’s a hundred and seventy fifth anniversary. In the meantime, a more recent brewer, Athletic Brewing, has gained fast traction with its whole lineup of non-alcoholic beers.

Since this morning, PBR’s twitter hasn’t posted something aside from the phrase “Beer” and to retweet a 2012 tweet that claims “Pabst truck stuffed with bees.”