Mental health charity I Am Hope has refused to take money from a boxing fund-raiser because a beer with the tagline “not for pussies” is being co-promoted alongside the event.
Swordfish Mojo is a low-carb lager created by Matt Watson, the star of the ITM Fishing Show and Ultimate Fishing YouTube channel.
The packaged version of the beer, brewed under contract at Good George, is being launched at the Ironfist Charity Fight Night boxing event in Hamilton on Saturday night.
The event was supposed to be a fund-raiser for I Am Hope, but when the mental health organisation learned of the beer’s tagline they opted out of receiving funds from the event, noting the beer’s message did not align with their values.
This story started when a number of people in the beer industry contacted me to ask if I was aware of the branding on the can with one person raising the connection between the launch and I Am Hope.
“ … [L]aunching it at an I Am Hope charity event…not quite sure how that aligns with their mission — ‘I AM HOPE has one goal — positive societal attitudinal change.’”
Another person wrote to me about “this bullshit”.
“I don’t know if you saw this last week as you’d have been at Beervana. Looks like Good George have contract brewed a lager for some fishing bloke. On the very front of the can it says ‘Not For Pussies’ wtf?!”
And a third noted: “I know they’re going for a mainstream market, but this is like time-warping back to the Moa days. What’s the message here? That only self-assessed alpha males can drink this beer?”
I asked I Am Hope through a generic contact form about the potential mixed messaging and whether they were happy with it.
Founder Mike King said after becoming aware of the branding on the beer, the organisation decided not to be involved in the Charity Fight Night.
“People want to raise money for us, which is good, but I put it to the board chair and our counselling lead, and while they both understand it’s a joke, it doesn’t align with our core values,” King told Pursuit of Hoppiness.
“We made a mistake and I accept full responsibility for the oversight, so we won’t be the recipient of the funds.
“I know it’s only a beer label … but we’re encouraging kids not to use this type of language so it would be hypocrisy to be involved in this.”
To those who messaged raising concerns about the branding and the link to I Am Hope, he said: “Thank-you for calling us out.”
In a message to Ironfist and Watson, King wrote:
“I regret to inform you that, unfortunately, we are unable to proceed as the recipient of funds for the event. I understand that you had already received approval from our marketing team, and I sincerely apologise for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused. It appears that consent was given without my prior knowledge, and I take full responsibility for this oversight.
“While I know the strapline was intended as a light-hearted joke, given our current position as a mental health trust, it doesn’t quite align with our core values. This isn’t something we wish to make a significant issue of, but it’s important that we stay true to our mission.
“I want to thank you for your efforts and contributions, and I genuinely wish you all the best with your event. Please know that your support of our cause is deeply appreciated.”
Matt Watson — “I get it”
For his part, Watson accepts there will be criticism of the tagline — and he expected it — and having spoken to King he understood I Am Hope’s decision.
“I get it,” Watson said of the critiques.
“We took advice and I got a legal opinion … the lawyer looked at all our social media stuff and other beer brands and said so long as you don’t change your style, which is clearly tongue-in-cheek and you’re laughing at yourselves, it’s likely you’ll get complaints but it’s unlikely you’ll get an advertising standards complaint upheld unless you start calling any people or any sector of New Zealand pussies.
“And it’s not something I would do anyway — I wouldn’t single out any person or any group for any kind of bullying.
“We set out to make it a laugh. There’s literally a cat on the side of the can, with a little line through it, and it says: “Whatever you do, don’t give it to your cat!”
Watson admits he was forewarned by his wife.
“My wife said ‘you know some people will get pissed off with this’. So it wasn’t like I wasn’t warned.
“Not everyone sees the world the way I do, that’s for sure.”
Swordfish Mojo — the backstory
In the view of full context around this, it’s important to know the backstory.
The new beer started as a bit of fun, with Watson referring to a can of beer as part of the “mojo” when people asked him how he caught swordfish when others couldn’t.
A friend then made stickers that read “swordfish mojo” and they would put them on cans of beer, usually Lion Red. And the gimmick became that the secret to catching swordfish was drinking a can of Lion Red with the “swordfish mojo” sticker stuck on the tin.
Watch swordfish mojo in action
“Then it grew into this social media thing, with us saying ‘we’re the conquerors of the ocean …’ taking the piss out of ourselves.
“‘Not for pussies’ is not an attention-grabbing thing — it went into the logo way back then and I wanted to keep it.”
Watson says he defines the phrase as “not being cowardly”.
“Up until now I haven’t had any negativity around it, even from the supermarkets.”
The beer is also a fund-raiser in its own right for the marine conservation organisation Legasea and part of the awareness campaign is adding salt water to the beer.
“The beer has salt water in it for that tangible connection: You have to look after the ocean because it’s going in your beer and by drinking this beer you’re helping the ocean. I’m trying to create a simple way to get people to care about the sea but if I can connect with beer-swilling heathens maybe there’s hope.”
Watson had not intended to launch the packaged beer at the Charity Fight Night — he had October pegged as a release date — but he brought forward the first canning run to help the promoter, who asked him to use the beer to drive ticket sales.
“He said ‘I’ve been following your social media and everyone’s very excited about the launch of your beer … if you could get some of it for the event it could draw some of your fans into buying tickets’. And he asked us to sponsor some beer, so we ran some off especially and Good George have been incredible to get it ready. We’ve had to move heaven and earth to get it into cans to support this event.
“I wasn’t using the event as an opportunity to launch the beer, I was helping him to help I Am Hope.”
I finished our conversation by noting that at least the beer will get noticed, to which Watson replied: “I was expecting the saltwater angle to generate some interest.”