Ricky Gervais signs $700million Contract with the Sopranos

TfL Ad ‘Ban’ Represents A Good Day In The Office For Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais has joined the growing list of celebrities lending (or rather renting) their name and celebrity image to an alcohol brand. Gin seems to be a particularly popular category…

Ricky Gervais has joined the growing list of celebrities lending (or rather renting) their name and celebrity image to an alcohol brand. Gin seems to be a particularly popular category, with offerings from actors including Emma Watson, Brad Pitt, Ryan Reynolds and Margot Robbie; musicians from Snoop Dogg to Katherine Jenkins; and even alcohol-free gins from David Guetta, Katy Perry and Lewis Hamilton. Even I’ve heard of these people – well, some of them – but I’m not sure why their musical, acting or sporting prowess makes them well placed mix their botanicals into a winning distillation.

At least Ricky Gervais is funny, so he can be relied upon to create humorous advertising for his own drink. Ricky has gone for a vodka brand called Dutch Barn, flavoured with apples from God’s own county of Yorkshire. Personally, the alcohol that I associate with apples is cider, and the excessive and unwise alcohol consumption of my youth. So the thought of combining apples with vodka, which also has unfortunate adolescent associations, brings a lump to my throat. And not in a good way.

Following a recent brand re-fresh, Dutch Barn planned an advertising campaign on the London Underground featuring a portrait of Ricky with a punning headline “One day you’ll be underground for good.” Clever, but not acceptable to Transport for London. According to the star’s post on X, “Dutch Barn sold so well that we were able to afford a London Underground billboard. However, it was not accepted for the following reason – ‘We think there is a risk that this may be construed as implying that because life is short, one might as well drink, potentially to excess.” Well, at least they got the joke.

Dutch Barn are the latest in a long line of advertisers to be caught out by the conservative ad policies of TfL. In this case, however, the ad may have been declined because TfL is still suffering from the hang over caused by the ASA’s decision to ban an ad for Jack Daniels earlier this year, despite seeming quite sober by comparison to the Dutch Barn ad.