Retailer rapped by regulator over ‘everyday wine’ range

UK convenience retailer Spar has been reprimanded by the The Portman Group for “indirectly encouraging immoderate consumption” of alcohol by referring to its newly launched range of wines under the banner of “everyday wine”.

The wines were presented under the banner of “everyday wine” in two press releases

The complainant, Alcohol Concern Wales, believed that Spar, by naming the range ‘Everyday Wine’, was alluding to drinking the product everyday, going against the advice of the UK chief medical officers’ (CMO) guidelines that say people should not drink more than 14 units a week and take alcohol-free days in between.

“The CMO guidelines advise consumers who drink regularly to have alcohol-free days, to keep their risk of developing alcohol-related problems to a low level,” the complaint read.

“In naming their range as ‘Everyday wine’, Spar are alluding to drinking the product every day, and therefore indirectly encouraging immoderate consumption. I note a similar complaint against Tesco’s ‘Everyday Value’ range in 2013 was not upheld, in part because the term ‘everyday’ was attributed to ‘value’ and not to the alcohol. This cannot be argued in here, given the absence of the word ‘value’.”

In both press releases the wording appeared as ‘everyday drinking’ which the Portman Group said linked the messaging to daily consumption of the product, creating a direct correlation between low price and acceptability of everyday alcohol consumption, although it admitted that this may have been “unintentional”.

‘‘While it was clearly not their intention to use the phrase ‘everyday drinking’ with shoppers, today’s ruling highlights the need for retailers as well as producers to show considerable care around the language they use in their marketing materials, regardless of the intended audience,” said secretary to the Portman Group’s Independent Complaints Panel, John Timothy.

Spar agreed not to use the term ‘Everyday Wine’ in either consumer or retailer facing communications in the future.

“At Spar we take the responsibility of retailing alcohol very seriously and work closely with The Portman Group,” said Cath McIlwham, Spar head of brand. “The use of the term was intended to explain the price positioning of the wine range in question and not to be communicated to customers or to encourage increased alcohol consumption. We have taken steps to ensure this phrase will not be used again in any of our communications either to consumers or retailers. Spar remains committed to the responsible sale of alcohol.”