American Alcohol firm Jim Beam is famous for the fine Bourbon whiskey made since 1795. As the maker of the best selling Bourbon in the entire world, its cultural significance runs deep among whiskey-loving populations and helped to make the brand a household name in many locations.

Yet, a visit to the local supermarket by a staff member of the Australia newspaper Melbourne Herald Sun uncovered a publicly acknowledged “secret”: the alcohol giant has been branding “Jim Beam” on almost completely unrelated products like potato chips, pizza sauce, and even underwear (both for adults and kids).

Despite the fact that these unrelated products are indeed produced by the parent company of “Jim Beam” Bourbons, the branding of products widely available to children have led to serious concerns of the general public. As the brand “Jim Beam” is primarily (and at one point in the past, solely) associated with alcoholic products, the firm’s attempt to inundate the market with its famous brand name through multiple products is feared to be sending an inappropriate message to the youth that drinking Jim Beam is perhaps “a cool thing to do.”

In fact, Jim Beam is not alone in its “market expansion” tactic. According to Geoff Munro, the national policy manager for Australian Drug Foundation, it has become an increasing trend for alcoholic firm to brand non-alcoholic products. All consideration for ethics aside, the tactic does benefit the alcoholic firms by drawing the loyal followers of their alcohols to buy the other products produced by the firm. Such a strategy to diversify production and increase profit may work very well as there is a strong culture to identify with particular brands among consumers of alcohol.

Yet, the question remains whether the benefits the firms receive from branding non-alcohol products can justify the possibility of young people lured to drink a brand-name alcohol after seeing or even purchasing non-alcohol products branded with the same name. Advocacy groups accuse alcohol firms of using deliberate subtle marketing on the youth population. Whether the accusation is true or not, alcohol producers should definitely keep in mind the potential effects of their branding strategy on the young and treat such “market expansion” tactics as a serious ethical dilemma.

Source: news.com.au