The campaign, which features the company’s fictional finance character Alan, was created to highlight that BrewDog has doubled its hop bill and absorbed the higher production cost rather than increasing the price of its headline beer.
The brewer said the intention was to underline that the reformulation is an investment in ingredient quality rather than a commercial tactic.
The ads went live this week in high footfall locations including Shoreditch High Street, London Bridge, Old Street and Manchester’s Deansgate.
Pushback
However, the choice of language has prompted pushback from mental health advocates, drinks industry figures and senior marketers on LinkedIn, who said the phrase was inappropriate and undermined ongoing efforts across workplaces to improve the way sensitive topics are discussed.
Hannah Pearsall, head of diversity, inclusion and wellbeing at Hays, said the wording was “an extremely poor choice of language” and added “suicide is not a metaphor for business risk and careless wording undermines the seriousness of prevention efforts”.
Marketing consultant Charlie Bell said there were “plenty of ways to say finance hates this without using the word suicide” and described the execution as “not consumer centric in the slightest”.
Alan Mahon, founder of Brewgooder, wrote “I hope you never have to experience the devastation of losing someone to suicide and then see the term used in this way”. Others questioned how the framing had progressed through internal sign off and what message it sent to staff or customers with lived experience of mental health issues.
BrewDog’s chief operating officer Lauren Carroll outlined the details of the new recipe on social media, emphasising that the changes were driven by ingredient quality rather than cost cutting.
She said the business had opted to take the cost increase internally rather than adjust pricing across the trade.
The updated Punk IPA features new hop varieties, including Krush, which BrewDog says bring brighter citrus notes and a more modern aroma profile.
The beer has also been reworked to produce a cleaner fermentation profile and a fresher finish while keeping its recognisable character. BrewDog said the revisions reflect shifts in hop availability and consumer taste since the beer was first launched in 2007.
The new recipe has been rolling gradually into supermarkets, pubs and BrewDog bars since August. The brewer said most customers will continue to pay the same price for the updated version, with full distribution expected by early 2026.
The Morning Advertiser has approached BrewDog for comment.
