After it was revealed that the group would continue to show matches at its venues, BrewDog’s new anti-sponsorship campaign of the Qatar World Cup has been labelled as ‘empty self promotion’.
Describing it as a ‘World F*Cup’ and admonishing the gulf state hosts for having dragged football ‘through the mud’, the craft beer brewer and bar operator was forced to defend itself after it emerged it would still show the tournament.
“There has been a lot of discussion around the fact that we are showing the games in our bars. We thought long and hard about this. But ultimately decided to do so for two reasons,” said BrewDog CEO and co-founder, James Watt in a statement posted to LinkedIn.
“Firstly we love craft beer and we love football, we truly feel we shouldn’t deny our loyal customers the chance to enjoy them together. Secondly, all profits from Lost Lager sold during the tournament will be donated to human rights charities.
“The truth is, we will raise more money to do good if we show the matches in our bars.”
BrewDog launched its ‘anti-sponsorship’ campaign earlier this week to protest Qatar’s human rights record, including its criminalisation of homosexuality, use of corporal punishment, and reports of migrant workers dying in preparations for the tournament.
