Fifa World Cup 2022: Brewdog accused of being ‘tone deaf’ over ad campaign against Qatar World Cup

Brewdog has come under fire for a “tone deaf” advertising campaign in which it styled itself as the “anti-sponsor” of the World Cup in Qatar.

The tournament, which is due to begin later this month, has been controversial due to questions over Qatar’s human rights record. The Gulf state has been criticised for its stance on same-sex relationships and its treatment of migrant workers, as well as other human rights issues.

A campaign launched on Monday by Brewdog, in which it said it was the “anti-sponsor” of the football tournament, has attracted criticism from people who accused the controversial brand of profiting from the games.

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Brewdog, which is showing the World Cup matches in its bars across the UK, said it would give all profits of its Lost Lager brand to human rights causes for the duration of the tournament.

Brewdog has styled itself as the "anti-sponsor" of the tournament.Brewdog has styled itself as the "anti-sponsor" of the tournament.
Brewdog has styled itself as the "anti-sponsor" of the tournament.

It also unveiled a billboard ad campaign with slogans such as: “First Russia, then Qatar, can’t wait for North Korea” and “the beautiful shame”.

Brewdog has had its own issues surrounding human rights. Last year, former employees of the Aberdeenshire brewery signed an open letter claiming they were bullied and treated like objects amid a culture of fear, prompting an apology from the company.

Trade union Unite criticised the campaign, with its industrial organiser for the hospitality sector, Bryan Simpson, saying: “The treatment of workers in Qatar is an international scandal, but BrewDog have a cheek saying anything about workers rights when hundreds of their own workers – past and present – signed an open letter detailing a ‘culture of fear’, with workers demanding an apology for ‘harassing, assaulting, belittling, insulting or gaslighting them’.”

Unveiling the campaign, Brewdog said: “Football's been dragged through the mud, before a single ball's been kicked. Let's be honest: Qatar won it through bribery. On an industrial scale.

“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 abuse.”

The company added: “To be clear, we love football, we just don't love corruption, abuse and death. So join us. Let's raise a glass to the players. To the fans. To free speech. And two fingers to anyone who thinks a World Cup in Qatar makes sense.”

One Twitter user, Joe Schmo, described the advertising campaign as “tone deaf”. He said: “If you want to profit off the games, do so. If you want to stand against them, do so. To do both is hypocritical and disingenuous.”

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Brewdog co-founder James Watt said on Twitter: “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.”

A BrewDog spokesperson said: “There’s been an incredible response to our Anti-Sponsor of the World F*Cup campaign this morning.

“We thought long and hard about whether we wanted to show matches in our bars, but decided to do so for two reasons.

“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.”

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