Heineken Denies Sponsorship of Dogfighting Event

A photo is circulating through social media cyber world, appearing on Facebook & Twitter showing a dogfighting event with Heineken banners in the background.  The photo above appears to imply that Heineken has sponsored dogfighting.  Naturally the reaction from everyone toward Heineken has been pretty severe and Heineken is taking to social media to deny any involvement.  The photo apparently dates back to April of 2012, and while it is not clear why it would resurface now, Heineken is denying all involvement.  In this statement from Heineken dated 18 April 2012, they make it clear they would never knowingly sponsor any such event.  The photo shows a bar in Mongolia where Heineken had apparently sponsored other promotional events, and the banners simply remained in place as the dogfight was held.  Heineken has since removed all banners (and beers) from this bar and cut all ties.  This from Heineken:

Images continue to circulate in social media channels showing a dog fight, with Heineken® banners clearly visible in the background. This is very distressing and totally unacceptable. As a company and a brand owner, we do not and would never knowingly support any event, outlet or individual involved in this type of activity. It is against our company and brand rules and – more important – against our company values. 

Since this matter was brought to our attention via Facebook we have conducted an investigation and now know that:

• – The venue is a nightclub in Mongolia
• – The venue hosted a dog fight of which we had no knowledge and were not involved in any way
• – The venue owner has verbally confirmed that Heineken® banners are visible in the pictures because the previous evening the club had been decorated for a promotional event and he had failed to remove the banners once it was over. This event was in no way related to the dog fight

Based on this we have taken the following immediate actions:

• – Removed all remaining promotional materials from the venue
• – Withdrawn all current product stock from the club
• – Ceased our relationship, ensuring our brands will not be available in the club again
• – Instructed our distributor to check every location where our brands can be enjoyed to ensure such illegal activities are not taking place. If there is any suggestion that they are, we will take the same action and remove our products
• – Continue to ensure our strict advertising and promotion guidelines are enforced both to the letter and the spirit of their intent

We want to thank our consumers on-line for bringing this issue to our attention. We are shocked and disappointed by these images. We fully understand the level of negative feeling amongst consumers based on what they have seen. We appreciate that the vast majority have asked for our point of view before making a judgment. We encourage our consumers to continue to use social media channels to alert us to any situation where they feel our brands are being misrepresented, so that we can take the appropriate actions.