Irn-Bru
Irn-Bru (pronounced ˈaɪɚn bruː, in German "iron brew" in an unusual way of writing due to trademark law) is a caffeinated soft drink from Scotland . It has been manufactured by AG Barr plc in Glasgow since around 1899 and has been trademarked since 1946. Barrs Irn-Bru is sold in the UK , Ireland , Russia , Canada , South Africa , parts of Europe , parts of Australia and Singapore .
Irn-Bru is known for its bright orange color. Since 1999 it has contained 0.002% ammonium iron (III) citrate , sugar , flavorings (such as caffeine and quinine ) and colorings ( E110 , E124 ). It is advertised that Irn-Bru has a slight citrus taste. For a long time it was the most popular soft drink in Scotland, even more popular than Coca-Cola . But the fierce competition between the two brands meant that about as much Irn-Bru as Coca-Cola is currently being sold.
Packaging and products
Irn-Bru, Irn-Bru Sugarfree (light version) and other Barr brands such as Pineappleade, Cream Soda, Tizer, Red Kola, Barr Cola and Limeade are available in non- returnable PET and returnable glass bottles . The empty glass bottles can be exchanged for a deposit of 20 pence at any point of sale that sells this product .
An Irn-Bru syrup is also available for restaurants and cafeterias. Barr also produces soft Irn-Bru bars that tingle on the tongue and have a strong taste of the soft drink. In Scotland, an Irn-Bru sorbet is offered in selected ice cream parlors .
marketing
The style of Irn-Brus advertising campaigns has always been very different from that of other soft drinks. Until recently, the most common variants were the Made in Scotland from girders (in English: " Made in Scotland from steel girders") advertisements in which Irn-Bru drinkers became unusually strong, persistent or magnetic.
The current TV spots based on this slogan are parodies of typical lemonade advertising films: one of them was a Coca-Cola-themed advertisement that weighs happy Irn-Bru drinkers with Cola's feelgood ballad; Another mimicked Pepsi's strategy of having pop stars advertise the product in a fictional heavy metal band. A wide variety of advertising methods have been used since the 1990s.
Probably the most memorable advertising campaign was the long-running TV and poster advertising series in black and white , in which, among other things, an advertising poster with the Grim Reaper and the slogan “ Don't be scared. You'll still get Irn-Bru on the other side. "( Eng. " Do not be afraid. You still get Irn-Bru on the other side. "). Also popular was the alleged advertisement for a detergent called Jef , which consisted of a little boy in a box vacuuming Irn-Bru stains from laundry.
An advertising campaign launched in 2000 featured extraordinary characters in strange situations. A TV advertisement was reminiscent of the television program of the 1950s. In the commercial, the mother played the piano. The father and the children sang a song that the mother ended with Though I was actually a man .
This commercial was first broadcast in 2000. When a new edition appeared in 2003, however, there were 17 complaints from people who perceived the ad as an attack on transsexuality . These allegations were defused in a report on advertising complaints by the British media regulator Ofcom . According to Barr, the commercial should only be a joking contribution about changing attitudes and customs over the years. Since the scene at the end of the commercial in which the mother shaved was considered a possible attack on transsexuals, the commercial was taken off the program anyway.
Over the years, Irn-Bru's advertising campaigns have caused quite a stir. For example, a series of posters showed a woman with the words 4 ½ inches of pleasure (Eng. "4 ½ inches of pleasure"). Other posters touting a cow with the slogan When I'm a burger, I want to be washed down with Irn-Bru (dt. "If I even a Burger are am, I want washed down with Irn-Bru"). 700 complaints were received about this poster advertising, but these were rejected by the British advertising agency.
The presentation of a depressed goths with the words: "Cheer up Goth. Have an Irn Bru ”. (Eng. "Cheer up, Goth. Drink an Irn-Bru.") led, according to media reports, to complaints from supporters of this trend, as they were increasingly harassed and pelted with Irn-Bru cans. The TV commercial for Irn-Bru 32 (the newest member of the Irn-Bru family) depicts a clichéd Glaswegian bat disguised as a giant cuckoo in a library with Irn-Bru 32. This commercial was also criticized for its aggressiveness and the Strathclyde Police even called for the commercial to be banned. In a cynical response to the complaints, a polite Estuary English version was sent for a short period of time . The UK Advertising Standards Authority agreed with AGBarr plc that the commercial should be viewed as weird.
The 2006 marketing campaign for Irn-Bru is known as the Phenomenal Campaign. Diet Irn-Brus Oh Yeah - advertising campaign shows an unfortunate ladyboy named Raoul accompanied by the song Oh Yeah by Yello .
The 2006 Christmas advertising campaign was a parody of the UK-famous walking-in-the-air scene from the cartoon The Snowman , in which a snowman and a boy named James Irn-Bru fly over Scotland drinking. The text for the accompanying song Walking in the Air has also been changed in a humorous way.
AG Barr plc launched an Irn Bru marketing campaign aimed at their priority target area Scotland. Prior to the 2006 World Cup, Barr recruited Trinidad and Tobago player Jason Scotland to promote Irn-Bru during the World Cup.
An early and long-running advertising campaign was the comic book The Adventures of Ba-Bru and Sandy , published in various newspapers . The well-known Ba-Bru neon sign in front of Glasgow Central Station could be seen there for many years and was only removed at the end of the 1980s.
The main actor in the crime novels by Ian Rankin , Inspector John Rebus , always drinks lots of Irn-Bru, usually the day after with a lot of aspirin.
Export, foreign markets and other manufacturers
Irn-Bru is currently produced in five factories in Russia. It is also produced under license in Canada. Irn-Bru and various other Barr products are also exported to Spain , the Netherlands , Greece , Cyprus and some parts of Africa and Asia . It is also available in Ireland, Belgium and, since 2005, in Poland . Irn-Bru's legal status in the United States is unclear. On the one hand, Irn-Bru is imported by several companies, on the other hand, it is listed as a prohibited substance by the US Food and Drug Administration . Include, according to the FDA website Irn-Bru and Diet Irn-Bru the carcinogenic dyes cochineal red A and sunset yellow . An importer (Irn-Bru USA) changes the ingredients of Irn-Bru so that it complies with FDA rules. The Park Company in East Haven, Connecticut has been making a soft drink called Iron Brew for decades. It is likely that the product name comes from the Scottish original, but they differ significantly in taste. The food coloring cochineal red A is also banned in Norway , yellow orange S is banned in Norway and Finland , but Irn-Bru can still be sold in Finland in shops specializing in imported goods. In Canada, Irn-Bru is sold caffeine-free, because until recently only dark-colored drinks were allowed to contain caffeine. As a result, and because quinine is omitted, the taste is different and the energy drink effect is zero. In Australia, too, there is decaffeinated Irn-Bru produced under license. The now defunct McKinley / McInlay Soft-Drink Company of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada sold an unlicensed drink called Iron Brew for many years. It was a brown colored carbonated soft drink with a fruity cola flavor. After the company ceased operations around 1990, Pepsi Co Inc. resold the drink locally as Cape Breton's I'rn Bru . Nowadays this product is hard to find even in the Cape Breton area. Irn-Bru is also sold under license in Spain, but the color of the can is lighter there. In Great Britain itself, various retail companies sell imitation own-brand products, which are offered as a cheaper alternative to the original and are usually referred to as Iron Brew . Similar drinks are sold as discount products by the Morrisons retail chain and the British subsidiary of Aldi Süd , among others .
Irn-Bru 32
The new Irn-Bru 32 is Barr's first real attempt to gain a foothold on the energy drink market with an Irn-Bru variation. Although there have been some energy drinks with an Irn-Bru taste so far, these were of little importance in the marketing spectrum and were mostly sold in liter bottles. With Irn-Bru 32 Barr wants to compete directly with market giants such as Red Bull , V or Red Devil. Apparently the name comes from the 32 secret ingredients of Irn-Bru, on the other hand it could be explained by the caffeine concentration of 32 mg / 100 ml.
Sponsorship
Irn-Bru is a long-term sponsor of FC Queen's Park in the 3rd Scottish Football League . The supporters of the association refer to themselves as the Irn-Bru Society . The brand also sponsors the World Burns Club and the Robert Burns World Federation. The Irn-Bru Revolution, a roller coaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, also takes its name from the drink.
Web links
- Official Irn-Bru website
- Irn-Bru-USA website
- Irn-Bru-32-Promotion-Pages
- Diet Irn-Bru Promotion Pages
- Manufacturer website AG Barr
Individual evidence
- ↑ Coke takes sparkle from Irn-Bru. In: The Scotsman . September 30, 2003, accessed November 20, 2018 .
- ^ Ofcom response to complaints about Leith Agency advert for Irn-Bru. ( Memento of October 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) July 2004
- ↑ Complaints Resolved (public and industry). ( Memento of December 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) 1998
- ↑ Irn Bru ad leaves bad taste. BBC News, July 30, 2003
- ↑ http://www.fda.gov/ora/fiars/ora_import_ia4502.html
- ↑ We're all killing ourselves. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. kishcom.com, June 27, 2005
