Well dearie, dearie me, CAMRA – the Campaign for Real Ale, has scored yet another spectacular own goal, and this time they appear to have done so without even trying (if you’ll excuse the rugby pun).
The massive faux pas revolves around the design chosen for the glasses, that will be used for the group’s Virtual Great British Beer Festival 2020, which takes place between Friday 11th to Sunday 13th September.
Now as far as I’m concerned, the whole concept of a “virtual festival” is absurd, but I’ll come onto that in a minute, but the glasses produced to mark this event are covered in pictograms that depict a virus. The organisers say the design represents Covid-19, which they claim is the defining event of 2020, but they have come in for some sharp criticism for their choice.
Irrespective of Covid-19 being one of the pivotal events of the year, the virus that has caused this global pandemic is something most people would rather forget. This especially applies to all those who have lost family and friends due to Covid-19, and everyone else whose life has been adversely affected by this disease.
Beer drinkers have taken to Twitter, and other forms of social media, to express their anger and distaste at such an insensitive choice of design. The festival organiser has issued an apology, whilst defending what is depicted on the glass. She claimed that because she personally suffered lung damage after contracting Covid-19, this somehow makes the design alright.
Whilst she has my sympathy for the adverse effects brought on by this virus, I somehow don’t follow her logic, and neither does it appear, do many others. One critic responded, “Oh dear. It will make it look like you have Covid in your beer! Wonder who thought this was a good idea.” Another retorted, “So off the mark and insensitive. The official ‘apology’ is a joke as well. Acknowledge the mistake and make amends now.”
There were others of course, expressing their support for the glass, but whatever peoples’ views are, this was not a wise choice of design, and no amount of grovelling and back-pedalling is going to undo the damage this incident has done to the already flagging fortunes of the Campaign for Real Ale.
Ticket holders will receive one of the aforementioned souvenir festival glasses, along with 11 beers to enable them to participate in two of the live tasting sessions. There are seven sets of beers to choose from, plus a cider & perry selection for those who prefer something a little different, but at £46 a set, this represents poor value for money – even if it does include packing and shipping costs.
Rather surprisingly, tickets for all sessions have sold out, so perhaps I’m just being over-critical of the event but come-on people, the pubs are open, so why go to a “virtual” pub, when you can enjoy the real thing? Honestly, I really do find the whole concept of these on-line happenings, absurd. Where is the atmosphere, the vibes or the feel normally associated with a beer festival? What pleasure, and what thrill is there in sitting in front of a computer screen, sipping at a beer whilst some “expert” sniffs, swirls and waffles on about how great it is?
Now that the nations’ pubs have re-opened, I know where I’d rather be – enjoying a few beers, with friends amongst the banter of a local pub, mixing (at an acceptable distance, of course), with real people, necking drinks of my own choice.
The final words go to CAMRA, who claim that membership of the organisation helps support a brewing and pub industry that has unusually hard-hit by the Covid-19 crisis. Oh, the irony, and the absurdity behind this statement, when the very same organisation is promoting an event that encourages people to stay at home and drink “virtually,” in front of a computer screen!
3 comments:
I agree that a virtual beer festival is an unusual idea,perhaps the aim was to allow large numbers of people from different parts of the world who meet up at the festival to meet up in a virtual manner. Much of the 'outrage' concerning the glass with references to dead relatives etc seems to be manufactured,over the years many breweries have produced beers which commemorate victories in wars where people die and no consideration seems to have been given to the sensibilities of those on the losing side,I don't recall any outrage about this. The glass is commemoration of a significant event in current history and should be seen as such.
John, glasses commemorating wars and other events involving loss of life, are normally issued at the conclusion of the particular catastrophe, rather than part way through it – as is the case with the current pandemic.
Whilst I am not “outraged” as some people claim to be, I still believe the thinking behind the glass was more than a little insensitive. The significance of Covid-19 is not in question, but whether it is something people wish to commemorate, remains to be seen. I don’t ever recall seeing mementos of Spanish Flu, for example; or of related things such as cholera outbreaks.
Moving on to the “virtual” festival itself, I fail to see how it allows people from different parts of the world to meet up. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this isn’t a conference event, where people can engage with a whole host of other participants. Instead it is a just means by which individual subscribers, can be talked through the tastings of a variety of different beers.
Fine, if this is what floats your boat, but to claim this is a virtual festival in any shape or form is mis-leading, and is not inline with CAMRA’s stated aims of supporting pubs and cask beer.
The cynic in me would say this is a purely commercial decision, and this is perhaps understandable in the current climate, but why not be honest about it, rather than dressing it up as something it clearly isn’t?
Excellent read as usual, Paul.
I've no opinion on the glass design, but it's clearly not a pint glass and therefore of no interest to me.
As you so succinctly put it, the idea of CAMRA claiming to support pubs while promoting a "festival" of home drinking is quite something.
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