Lion's green beer pitch dead as the deer on the barbie

Brewer Lion Nathan has been forced to scrap a series of TV commercials in Australia launching a green beer after it emerged that a deer had been killed so it could be filmed on a barbecue for final scenes in the ads.

An internal investigation by Lion Nathan - prompted by inquiries made by the Sydney Morning Herald - found that the brewer's production company, Goodoil had failed to "source the deer appropriately".

Ironically, a stag is the brand logo of Lion's bestselling beer, Toohey's New, and in the past year has featured prominently in its packaging and marketing.

Sources close to the shoot, which took place in the South Island two weeks ago, said that the production crew believed it would be easier and cheaper to select a beast for slaughter at a local deer farm, rather than commission a model or a computer-generated image.

Five frozen pig carcasses were also to have appeared in the ads.

Calls to Goodoil, based in Sydney, and the Sydney office of Lion's ad agency, Publicis Mojo, were referred on to the brewer.

In a statement issued by Lion Nathan, the company said the production crew had legally sourced a carcass from a farmer, who had an animal that was to be culled due to old age and was destined for the meatworks.

"Instead of being sold on to the meatworks, the dead deer was diverted for use in the advertisement," the statement said.

It acknowledged that although the culling of deer is legal and routine in New Zealand, it recognised that what occurred was insensitive and inconsistent with company guidelines on the treatment of animals.

"Lion Nathan is absolutely committed to the ethical treatment of animals and despite the considerable costs involved in making the advertisement, we don't intend to air it.

"We are reviewing our management processes to ensure that this kind of incident could not happen again," the statement concluded.

A company spokesman said it was too early to tell what, if any, impact this incident might have had on Lion Nathan's relationship with both Goodoil and the advertising agency involved.

Two years ago, a Saatchi & Saatchi ad, which launched the line 'For the Love of Beer' for Toohey's New, used a computer-generated image of a stag being catapulted into the sky. It prompted a number of complaints to the Advertising Standards Bureau, which were subsequently dismissed.

- © Fairfax NZ News