Brewdog boss pays out £500,000 in gold can row

The boss of Brewdog has said he has paid out almost £500,000 to winners of the company's misleading "solid gold" beer can promotion.

James Watt said he made "some costly mistakes" in a promotion which offered people the chance to find a solid gold can hidden in cases in 2021.

Some winners questioned the worth of the cans and complained after discovering they were gold-plated.

Mr Watt admitted he "falsely thought" the cans were made from solid gold.

The co-founder and chief executive of the Scottish Brewer said he "misunderstood the process of how they were made" and made a "silly mistake" by telling customers in initial promotional tweets that the cans were "solid gold cans".

After some winners complained to the Advertising Standards Authority, the watchdog in October 2021 upheld the complaints and said three adverts were misleading.

"Those were 3 very expensive mistaken tweets that I sent out in my enthusiasm for our new campaign," Mr Watt said in a post on LinkedIn on Saturday.

"The Gold Can saga was headline news. We were made to look dishonest and disingenuous and we took a real hammering online and in the press. Deservedly so. My initial tweets had been misleading and we deserved the flak," he added.

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Mr Watt said that because it was his error, he had contacted all 50 gold can winners to offer them the "full cash amount" as an alternative to the prize if they were unhappy".

"All in all, it ended up costing me around £470,000 - well over 2 and a half years' salary," he added.

James Watt founded Brewdog in Fraserburgh in 2007

In his post, the Brewdog boss revealed he now owned 40 of the gold cans.

After conducting its investigation, the ASA said it received 25 complaints in relation to three social media adverts stating its can prize was made from "solid gold".

As well as complaints over the prize's authenticity, some questioned how much the can was worth, with Brewdog claiming it was valued at £15,000.

The ASA said Brewdog told investigators that a single 330ml can, made with the equivalent 330ml of pure gold, would have a gold value of about $500,000 (£363,000) at the time in October 2021.

But the watchdog considered a general audience was unlikely to be aware of the price of gold, "how that would translate into the price of a gold can, and whether that was inconsistent with the valuation as stated in the ad".

Mr Watt reiterated in his LinkedIn post on Saturday that the "valuation of £15,000 per can was accurate".

Brewdog has faced criticism for its marketing campaigns in the past, as well as its workplace culture.

A letter from ex-workers in June 2021 stated former staff had "suffered mental illness" as a result of working for the craft beer brewer.

It made a number of allegations, including that Brewdog fostered a culture where staff were afraid to speak out about concerns.

Mr Watt previously apologised to former staff and said their complaints would help make him a better chief executive.