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The drink Irn-Bru is most famous for its eccentric bright orange colour, making it easily recognisable even when not in its packaging. The 'Iron-Brew' produced by other manufacturers is a similar shade, but merely approximates Irn-Bru in taste. The formula for Irn-Bru is a closely guarded secret, known only by two of Barr's board members. As of 1999 it did contain 0.002% of ammonium ferric citrate, sugar, flavouring agents (including caffeine and quinine) and colouring (E110, E124). It is advertised as having a slight citrus flavour, but many have differing opinions of the exact taste of Irn-Bru. Irn-Bru is widely reputed to be an excellent cure for hangovers. This claim has some foundation in truth — all caffeinated drinks will soothe headaches to an extent, and sugary drinks will replace lost fluids and sugars. It is often used as a mixer with alcoholic beverages — mainly vodka and whisky. Indeed, the popular British alcopop WKD was originally launched as an alcoholic equivalent of Irn-Bru. Barr retaliated by launching a drink combining Irn-Bru and Bell's whisky, though this proved to be unpopular and was quickly discontinued. A later attempt came in the form of an official Irn-Bru flavour in the Red Square line-up of vodka-based drinks; this too has been discontinued. There is now an official Irn-Bru WKD flavour. Packaging and products Irn-Bru and other Barr brands including Pineappleade, Cream Soda, Tizer, Red Kola, Barr Cola, and Limeade are still available in refundable glass bottles. The empty bottles can be returned to any shop which sells them, and theoretically exchanged for the deposit of 20 pence. Many retailers, however, will only offer store credit. Irn-Bru and Diet Irn-Bru are available in the following sizes: For restaurants and cafeterias, Irn-Bru syrup is available. Barr also produce Irn-Bru Bars, chewy, fizzy, bright orange bars which taste very strongly of Irn-Bru. Irn-Bru sorbet is available some speciality ice cream shops in Scotland (e.g. Divitos of Crossgates or Janettas of St Andrews, both in Fife and also S. Luca of Musselburgh). Sponsorship Irn-Bru is the long-term sponsor of 3rd division football team Queen's Park F.C.. The brand also sponsors the World Burns Club and The Robert Burns World Federation *. Marketing Irn-Bru's advertising campaigns have always been very different from those of other commercial soft drinks. Until recently, most were variants on the "Made in Scotland from girders" tagline, usually featuring Irn-Bru drinkers becoming unusually strong, durable, or magnetic. The last two television advertisements based on this slogan were parodies of more "typical" soft drink adverts. One featured a Coca-Cola style montage of happy Irn-Bru drinkers against a feelgood ballad. The other pastiched Pepsi's use of pop singers in their adverts with a fictional heavy metal band. Since the 1990s, different approaches have been used. Perhaps the best-remembered are the long running series of television and billboard adverts in black-and-white, including the billboard with the grim reaper saying "Don't be scared. You'll still get Irn-Bru on the other side." and the supposed-advert for a cleaning product called "Jef", which consists of a small boy in a box, who sucks Irn-Bru stains out of clothes. A popular advertising campaign launched in 2000 featured eccentric characters and situations. One involved a grandfather (played by actor Robert Wilson) who removed his false teeth to spoil his grandson's interest in his can of Irn-Bru. Another TV advert from this campaign evokes 1950s entertainment. The mother plays the piano, while the father and two children deliver a song which ends with the mother singing: "Even though I used to be a man."* This advertisement originally aired in 2000, but when it was re-aired in 2003, it received seventeen complaints from people who claimed it was offensive to transsexuals. Issue A14 of the Ofcom Advertising Complaints bulletin reports that the children's response to their mother's claim was not in fact offensive. The advertisement was meant to be a joke about changing points of view over time. However, the scene involving the mother shaving at the end of the advertisement was deemed to be potentially offensive to transsexuals, and so it was taken off the air. Over the years, advertising campaigns for Irn-Bru have caused upset. One billboard featured a woman with the words "4 1/2 inches of pleasure". Another featured a picture of a cow with the slogan "When I'm a burger, I want to be washed down with Irn-Bru". This billboard received over 700 complaints but was cleared by advertisement watchdogs. * A billboard which featured a depressed goth was also criticised for inciting violence. * The Irn-Bru 32 advertisement, featuring a stereotypical Glasgow "hardman" dressed as a giant cuckoo in a library was also criticised, with Strathclyde Police appealing for it to be banned for being too aggressive. In answer to these complaints, a tongue-in-cheek redubbed version of the advert, with the cuckoo speaking in a polite Estuary English accent was aired for a short period of time, eventually being replaced by the original. The ad was cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority. * The current marketing campaign for Irn-Bru is known as the "Phenomenal" campaign. Diet Irn-Bru's advertising campaign is currently "Oh Yeah", featuring a hapless lothario called Raul. Irn-Bru have started a marketing campaign aimed at their main target area, Scotland. Prior to the 2006 world cup, Irn-Bru recruited Trinidad and Tobago player, Jason Scotland, to be the face of the product during the world cup period. An early (and long running) advertising campaign was "The Adventures of Ba-Bru and Sandy" comic. A neon sign featuring Ba-Bru stood outside Glasgow Central station for many years, and was only removed in the late 1980s. History The drink was first produced in 1901 under the name Iron-Brew. During World War II the British Government reined in production of 'non-essential' products, causing Iron-Brew to vanish from retailers' shelves until 1946. Around this time there was a move to tighten up legislation on product labelling, in order to make it factually descriptive which ended with legislation being passed that required 0.125g of iron per fluid ounce to any drink bearing the name 'iron brew'. In 1946 Barr registered the new name 'Irn-Bru' for their product. It is unknown whether this was a move to circumvent the labelling laws, as other soft drink manufacturers in Scotland (such as Hays or Sangs), produce their own versions of Iron-Brew and keep the original spelling to this day. In 1972 Barr acquired Tizer Ltd and began producing Irn-Bru at this company's plant in Atherton, near Manchester. This perhaps explains the drink's extraordinary popularity in the northwest region of England, compared with other areas (where it does not sell so well, despite heavy marketing). In 1988 Barr acquired Mandora St Clements in Mansfield. Irn-Bru is bottled in Mansfield, along with many other Barr drinks. When McDonald's restaurants first opened for trading in Glasgow they did not serve Irn-Bru. This was seen as an insult by some Scots, and a campaign to correct this oversight was launched. After many of their restaurants were picketed, McDonalds relented and began to stock Irn-Bru alongside their other soft drinks. Exports and foreign markets
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Irn-Bru urban mythology There is an urban legend, often heard in Scotland when discussing the drink, that states variously that Irn-Bru is more popular in Russia than it is in Scotland, or that it is more popular than Coca-Cola in Russia. This is untrue, it's far more prosperous in Azerbaijan. Barr's first venture in Russia, with a Russian company backed by American venture capitalists, failed in August 2001. A second attempt at cracking the Russian market began in June 2002, backed by the Pepsi Bottling Group of Russia. Robin Barr, AG Barr chairman, said of the legend "Maybe I could sit here and hope that it was more popular than Coke, but Coke was introduced into the Russian marketplace shortly after 1990, so they've been in business for some 12 years now, whereas we only started franchising Irn-Bru in Russia towards the end of the world as we know it." Another myth is that a glass bottle of Irn-Bru, when wedged between the meter and window of a Hackney Cab, causes the meter to speed up, resulting in a higher fare. Trivia There'll be laughter and tears over Tia Marias, | ||||||||||||||
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