Who is demarketing Amstel Malta?
In the past several months, Nigerian Breweries Plc has been put on the edge, following sustained efforts at demarketing its premium low sugar malt drink, Amstel Malta, by people circulating false rumour about the existence of a fake Amstel Malta drink in the market.
The elaborate smear campaign, which apparently looks well funded and coordinated, has leveraged on the recent change in the packaging of Amstel Malta to sell the dummy to unsuspecting members of the public and falsely insisted that the newly repackaged Amstel Malta was actually the fake one.
The falsehood has been reinforced with series of videos and pictures on social media, all aimed at defaming Amstel Malta and causing panic among the public.
Unfortunately, because bad news sells, especially when it is false, the fake Amstel story has spread like wild fire, thus unnerving consumers, some of whom have become wary of their favourite malt drink. But Nigerian Breweries has now moved in to nip the trend in the bud by insisting that there is no fake Amstel Malta in the market.
The management of the brewery giant has stressed that the change in the packaging of the premium low sugar malt drink was done in line with the guidelines and approval of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration Control, NAFDAC, and in compliance with the new mandatory NIS quality logo from the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
The change was actually done to incorporate the new NIS logo, which is a mark of Amstel Malta’s high quality. “Amstel Malta was the first malt drink to adopt the new NIS logo on its packaging, and it is the highest mark of quality from SON “NB Plc’s Corporate Affairs Adviser Kufre Ekanem said in a media parley in Lagos today.
Ekanem added that because Amstel Malta has a shelf life of 12 months, it was normal to see both the new and old package co-exist in the market until the old one dries out. Sadly, it is the new approved packaging with the new NIS logo which has been labeled as fake by the rumour peddlers.
This clarification was also corroborated by SON which maintained that the people behind the defamation were playing on the intelligence of Nigerians. “We have a web site (www.son.gov.ng) which contains all information on our standards and quality regulations. Every Nigerian who has doubts about any product certified by SON should crosscheck the facts”, Mr. Fred Akingbesote, Deputy Director, SON said.
Akingbesote confirmed that the NIS logo on Amstel Malta is the highest mark of quality from SON and commended the management of Nigerian Breweries for its commitment to the highest quality standard. He stated that Nigerian Breweries is one of the first companies to adopt the new NIS logo which was launched in September, 2015.
But the noose seems to be closing in fast on the criminals as NB Plc has reported their activities to the police who have since swung into action. The brewery giant has equally set up dedicated phone number and e-mail address so that members of the public can report phone numbers and email addresses of any further defamatory materials. The phone number is 08162624553 and email- [email protected].
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