'No link between beer, torture'
2005-07-01 10:26
Canberra - An Australian engineer who was held hostage by Iraqi insurgents for six weeks has offered to become the "face" of Australia's most popular beer in an advertising campaign, a brewery executive said on Friday.
But while Carlton and United Beverages welcomed the free publicity that former hostage Douglas Wood has generated for his favourite beer - Victoria Bitter - they have refused a commercial deal, said consumer communications manager Jacqui Moore.
Wood, 64, a longtime California resident, was rescued after 47 days' captivity during a dramatic military raid on a Baghdad house on June 15.
He immediately asked for a Victoria Bitter and news of how his favourite Australian Rules football team - Geelong - was faring.
International media attention surrounding Wood's release and his longing for the beer, best known as VB, made the brand "a talking point," Moore said.
Wood's agent suggested he become involved in an advertising campaign last week, within days of his return to Australia.
"I very graciously declined," Moore said.
"It's great that he loves our beer, but it just doesn't sit with the values of the brand to capitalise on someone's personal experience for its own benefit," she added.
But the brewery showed its goodwill by sending two crates of beer to Wood's brother's home in the capital, Canberra.
A marketing expert, Associate Professor Nigel Pope, said Wood would have been a bad match for VB's image.
"There's no conceivable link between VB's image, which is one of very young people enjoying themselves, and a guy getting kidnapped and tortured," said Pope, of Griffith University's marketing department.
Wood has reportedly made up to AUS$500 000 through exclusive media deals, selling his story of survival as fellow hostages were murdered around him.
- AP