Eric Cantona Kronenbourg beer advert banned for being too French

Despite the small print reading “Brewed In The UK”, the Advertising Standards Authority have pulled the plug on the campaign

Eric Cantona posing at the Cannes Film Festival 2013 (Getty Images)

One would be forgiven for thinking that hiring a former French football international to promote a brand in an advert set in the France would give a campaign a certain Gallic air about it.

But the beermakers behind Kronenbourg 1664 probably weren’t expecting to receive complaints that they had misled the pint-swilling public to think that the hops used to produce the beverage were produced in France.

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Despite the small print on the advert reading “Brewed In The UK”, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) saw fit to issue the following: “Although we noted from the documentation supplied that the Strisselspalt hop used by Heineken was sourced from the Alsace region of France, we also noted that it did not constitute a significant majority of the total hops used in the recipe for the beer.

“We therefore concluded that (the television) ad was misleading.”

Heineken UK, who own Kronenbourg 1664, hit back, arguing that the “inherently French beer” was actually first brewed in Alsace by Brasseries Kronenbourg in 1952, Only now is it brewed in the UK under a process approved by Brasseries Kronenbourg.

But their cries fell on deaf ears, and ASA has decided to uphold the ban.

The news marks the second time Cantona has hit the headlines this week. On Sunday, he became the victim of plagiarism by serial copycat Shia LaBeouf, who quoted, word-for-word, the legendary statement he made to a room full of press following his assault charge in 1995.

Speaking at a conference for his latest movie Nymphomaniac at the Berlin Film Festival, LaBeouf said the following:

“When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much.”

Again, taking a leaf out of Cantona's book, he then stormed out of the conference.

It has since been revealed that LaBeouf is part of an actual art project called “#IAMSORRY”, performed in collaboration with actual artist Luke Turner.