‘Simpsons’-Inspired Duff Beer to be Pulled from Australian Shelves

Hoping to discourage underage drinking, Duff Beer will no longer be sold at the multitude of Woolworth-owned liquor stores in Australia. The decision comes after the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code upheld complaints lodged by the Alcohol Policy Coalition, which had been advocating against its sale due to breaches in advertising strategies.

The APC panel ruled the packaging and marketing of the product had “a strong appeal to children and adolescents,” and doctors across the country joined in the fear that it would boost the acceptability of alcohol misuse because of the popularity of The Simpsons among youth and adolescents.

Even the Australian Medical Association President, Steve Hambleton, has previously said the new beer line would likely increase “the social acceptability of alcohol misuse.”

The ABCA agreed that the beer “through its name and packaging has stronger evident appeal to children or adolescents because of its cartoon-inspired origins.”

The panel concluded that the Beer’s packaging, color scheme and layout had a close association with The Simpsons and for this reason would draw the “immediate and close attention of under 18 year olds’ who have grown up with the program.”

Woolworths started selling the famous beer replicas in its liquor stores back in May. The stores will continue to sell the remaining stock of $45 cases.

Elsewhere in Australia, a pop-up bar dedicated to Duff is being held at Sydney’s Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel for seven days, and brewers Lion Nathan previously & unsuccessfully attempted to brew Duff, but were blocked by Twentieth Century Fox in 1996.

Perth’s Allstates Liquor Wholesalers were also handed a ‘cease and desist’ by Fox in 2011 after stocking “Legendary Duff Beer,” which had a very similar label and logo to the one depicted in The Simpsons.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida sells a fully-licensed version of Duff in its amusement park, which attracts millions of little future alcoholics each year.

[via The Daily Mail]