It seems to be “have a go at CAMRA weekend”, but I couldn’t pass up on this article from The Publican in which beer writer Pete Brown criticises the organisation’s naïve and muddle-headed policy of opposing alcohol advertising of “international brands”. Now Pete by his own admission is a bit of a Socialist, so can’t be accused of just being a lackey of the evil multi-national capitalists. He writes:
But just when you think CAMRA has successfully reinvented itself, it says or does something that embarrasses you so much it reminds you of your senile granny’s racist outburst at your cousin’s wedding...Absolutely - yet again CAMRA blunders into the “divide and rule” trap set by the anti-drink lobby.
... And if by some bizarre chance such a partial ban came into being, there would be immediate pressure from the neo-Pros to extend it from international brands to national brands, from national to regional, to a total blanket ban. Those who hate alcohol and alcohol advertising do not discriminate by size of brewer — in their eyes, a pint of Crouch Vale Brewers’ Gold is no less ‘harmful’ than a pint of Foster’s.
CAMRA’s support for such a policy is an easy victory for the neo-Prohibitionists and an outright betrayal of the drinkers CAMRA claims to represent. It’s about time this ‘drinker’s champion’ started fighting back against the constant slurs against brewers and beer drinkers, instead of agreeing with those who attack us.