Bulmers pulls ad after teetotal gaffe

Bulmers, the Heineken-owned cider brand, has been forced to scrap one execution of a major ad campaign which promoted its heritage, after mistakenly using a picture of a teetotal Methodist who fought alcohol abuse, rather than the company’s founder.
The campaign explains the brand’s evolution from the family business – set up in 1887 in Hereford – by using little anecdotes, featuring the family pony, Tommy, the brothers’ first tandem bicycle, and their prescient mother,  under the strapline, “In the beginning”.
One execution told the story of how the Reverend CH Bulmer provided his sons, Percy and Fred, with a loan to support the family firm, adding: “We hope he’d be proud that they used his money wisely…”
But it is understood the agency behind the campaign – Adam & Eve DDB – could not find a picture of the Rev Bulmer so instead used a generic shot of a vicar of the period.
However, it could not have made a more blundering choice as the man in the ad is none other than Hugh Price Hughes, a prominent teetotal Methodist who spent his life helping alcoholics and founded the West London Mission to help tackle Victorian social problems.
Reverend Val Reid, the current minister at the Hinde Street Methodist Church, home to the West London Mission, found out about the mistake when one of her parishioners spotted it in GQ magazine.
She told the BBC: “One of the things Hugh Price Hughes was interested in when he founded the West London Mission was his work with some of the poorest people. The abuse of alcohol was a huge problem then. It caused untold misery, additional poverty, and a strain on families. We were very concerned that his image was being used to promote cider.”
After failing to get a response from parent company Heineken, Reid made a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority. Heineken then got in touch, and said the ad would be pulled immediately. Reid added: “They have been extraordinarily gracious in dealing with it.”
The company said that it “fully appreciated the distress caused” by using the wrong image and has even told Reid that a representative will visit the church and make a donation to its cause.
Earlier this week, the ASA rejected complaints about another Adam & Eve campaign – this time for Renault – despite claims it was irresponsible.

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