'Costly mistake': Brewdog CEO pays nearly $600k from his own pocket to unhappy 'solid gold' beer can winners

The CEO of Brewdog, a Scottish Brewer caught himself in a "costly mistake" in a promotion campaign by his company. The CEO, James Watt has to pay out almost £500,000($608,165) to winners of the company's misleading "solid gold" beer can promotion which offered people the chance to find a solid gold can hidden in cases in 2021.

It was later found out by the winners of such cans that they were not actually gold but were only gold-plated, to which James admits that he was also unaware of it and "falsely thought" the cans were made from solid gold.

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James, the co-founder of Brewdog, 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 upheld the complaints and said three advertisements were misleading in October 2021. "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.

Jamesstated that because of his error, he contacted each of the 50 gold can winners and offered them the "full cash amount" as an alternative to the prize if they were dissatisfied. "All in all, it ended up costing me around £470,000 - well over 2 and a half years' salary", he added.

The Brewdog CEO revealed in his post that he now owns 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".

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In addition to complaints about the prize's authenticity, some people questioned how much the can was worth.Brewdog claimed thatit was worth £15,000. According to the ASA, Brewdog told investigators that a single 330ml can be made with the equivalent 330ml of pure gold would have a gold value of approximately $500,000 (£363,000) 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".

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

This was not the first time that the Scottish brewer has been in news for its marketing campaigns, in the past as well they have faced criticism for its marketing strategies and toxic workplace culture.

A letter from one of the ex-workers in June 2021 stated that former staff had "suffered mental illness" as a result of working for the craft beer brewer. The letter also alleged that Brewdog fostered a culture where staff were afraid to speak out about their concerns.

Though James apologised to former staff and said their complaint would only help him to become a better chief executive.

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