Bulmers blunders after using teetotal Victorian vicar as brand ambassador
Cider brand Bulmers has been given a sobering fact checking lesson after it inadvertently employed the image of a teetotal Victorian vicar, who actively campaigned against the scourge of alcohol, on its labelling.
Parent company Heineken had been seeking to depict the Rev CH Bulmer, who founded the eponymous business with his sons 120 years ago, but their image trawl dredged up the wrong man
Instead of the cider loving minister they stumbled on a pic of the Rev Hugh Price-Hughes, a Methodist clergyman who made it his life’s work to help alcoholics.
To add insult to injury the black and white image bore the slogan ‘We hope he’d be proud’.
The mistake only came to light after Bulmers splashed out tens of thousands on an advertising campaign, prompting Heineken to make a donation to Price-Hughes’ former church in Wales by way of recompense.