'Scrumpy hands' tape ad doesn't stick

Scrumpy (Harvest Cidery/Facebook)
Scrumpy (Harvest Cidery/Facebook)

A New Zealand cider company has been accused of promoting excessive drinking after offering to give fans free 'Scrumpy Tape'.

Harvest Cidery makes the popular Scrumpy range of drinks. In a post on Facebook, the company offered followers free Scrumpy-branded tape, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) reported on Thursday.

"This is clearly alluding to the game 'Scrumpy hands', where Scrumpy is taped to the hands and must be finished before the bottle can be removed," complainant H Hills told the ASA.

"The use of a wink emoji in the post further confirms this."

Scrumpy hands, also known as Edward Fortyhands (after the movie character Edward Scissorhands) or Amy Winehands (after the late soul singer), is a drinking game popular with students. According to slang site Urban Dictionary, a game often "results in an ambulance arriving".

In 2014, Waikato University student magazine Nexus detailed variations on the game, include 'Scrumpy possum', in which the drinker has to stay up a tree until they've finished their drink; and 'Scrumpy monkey', in which not only do you stay up a tree, but you have to tape each can you finish to the next one, to make what's called a 'wizard stick'.

Many of the posts on Scrumpy NZ's Facebook page are targeted to appeal to young adults, with a mix of memes edited to include Scrumpy products.

Scrumpy products produced by Harvest Cidery are above 8 percent alcohol content - about twice that of beer.

After the ASA asked Harvest Cidery to explain, the company confirmed it had removed the offending post.

"Given the advertiser's co-operative engagement with the process and the self-regulatory action taken in removing the advertisement, the chair said that it would serve no further purpose to place the matter before the complaints board," the ASA said, in settling the complaint.

Because it removed the post, Harvest Cidery avoided any further sanctions.

Newshub has contacted the ASA for a copy of the post.

Newshub.