Amstel packaging faces re-vamp after South African ad ruling
The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASASA) has ruled that packaging on certain Amstel Lite beer must be changed because it is too similar to that of local beer Castle Lite.
The South African Breweries (SAB), which produces the Castle Lager brand of beer, had complained about what it described as look-a-like packaging on Amstel Lite beer, produced by South African company Brandhouse Beverages.
Brandhouse is a joint venture between Diageo, Namibia Breweries and Heineken International, the last of which owns the Amstel brand.
The case specifically centred on the packaging of both products when sold in six packs. Both use silver and green shrink wrap packaging with the word ‘Lite’ and the name of the beer emblazoned on the side.
In its judgment, earlier this month, the ASASA ordered Brandhouse to remove the offending packaging within three months.
The ASA said SAB had enjoyed “significant sales” of Castle Lite over 20 years and had spent millions of Rand advertising it.
It added: “The Castle Lite packaging, which features a colour combination of green and silver, has been used consistently over the 20-year period, together with the word ‘Lite’.
“Given that the green and silver colour combination and the word ‘Lite’ have been unique features of the Castle Lite packaging in South Africa for a very long time, the use of similar elements by Amstel Lite has effectively done away with the uniqueness of these features, and is therefore likely to diminish the advertising goodwill that the complainant has built up.”
Brandhouse claimed that “key elements” of the packaging for Amstel Lite included the well-known ‘Amstel’ word mark and logo marks. It added that a consumer who is loyal to Castle would be familiar with the “trusted and well-established ‘Castle’ and ‘Castle Lite’ trademarks and therefore would be unlikely to be confused.
But according to the ASASA, when Amstel Lite was launched on August 1 last year, SAB instructed market research company Ask Afrika to carry out a survey to determine brand association with the colours green and silver when used in conjunction with the word ‘Lite’ in relation to beer.
The ASASA said respondents were shown a card with the Amstel Lite bottle shrink wrap displayed on it but with the Amstel logo removed.
“The results of the survey show that an overwhelming majority of 84% of the respondents, who had consumed beer in the past four weeks, spontaneously identified the image as Castle Lite,” the ASASA said.
Brandhouse could not be reached for comment and Heineken did not respond to a request for comment. According to Africa-based intellectual property blog AfroIP, Brandhouse has lodged an appeal against the ruling and asked for the three-month period within which it must withdraw the products bearing the packaging to be suspended.
