Shepherd Neame guns for laughs with Spitfire ads

Britain's oldest brewer Shepherd Neame is set to raise eyebrows as well as smiles, after it launched the latest phase of its Spitfire Premium Ale "Bottle of Britain" advertising campaign.

The £250,000 five-poster campaign, will appear on the London Underground in the run-up to Christmas and continues the humorous jingoistic theme of previous campaigns, featuring slogans such as "Have the sunbeds. We're going to the bar", "Rear gunners drink lager shandy" and "Votz zo funny about zeez posters?".

Mark McJennett, sales and marketing director of Shepherd Neame, said: "The campaign is a continuation of the tongue-in-cheek advertising, which has helped Spitfire become the fastest growing cask beer in the country. It's eye catching, irreverent and deliberately designed to amuse in the run-up to our busy Christmas season."

Another poster is adorned with the baffling wartime legend: "The goat and the marmoset play all night by the river in spring and late summer." Several letters of the copy have been ringed to spell out "German beer is pants."

The previous Spitfire campaign scored a double success at Campaign Magazine's national advertising industry awards. The "Downed all over Kent, just like the Luftwaffe" ad was awarded best alcoholic drinks/tobacco poster and also scooped the Campaign readers award for best poster overall.