Brewdog employee wins award for rude prank
At most companies, printing rude words on the product's packaging would be a firing offence - but not at craft brewery Brewdog.
The firm prides itself on its edgy image, and packing manager Graeme Wallace took offence after a customer accused it of 'not being punk enough.
So he secretly changed the printing on the bottom of a batch of 20,000 cans of BrewDog's flagship beer, Punk IPA, to read 'MOTHER F****R DAY'. Two hundred thousand cans were affected, and shipped all over the UK.
The unconventional wording was noted by one drinker who posted a photo on Imgur: "Have to take all these beers off sale because someone had a bad day," reads the caption.
And, indeed, the company's withdrawn all the cans from sale.
But is hasn't, as you might expect, given Mr Wallace his marching orders - it's named him employee of the month instead.
"At another company, someone responsible for a prank like this might have been given the heave ho," a spokesperson tells the Mirror. "At BrewDog, Graeme was awarded Employee of the Month."
Things rarely turn out so well for employees that carry out rude pranks. Amazon, for example, recently promised to investigate thoroughly after a customer complained that a sex toy had been added to his shopping cart.
More often, though, rude messages appear entirely by accident. Last year, Marks and Spencer denied that a disgruntled employee was responsible when Christmas tree decorations in the form of letters of the alphabet spelled out a rude phrase on its website.
In 2014, Falmouth-based Pendennis Shipyard found itself trending on Twitter when passers-by noticed what happened to the company name when the doors of the firm's vans were slid open. The 'denn' in the middle of the company's name disappeared, leaving the word 'penis' spelled out down the side.
And in nearby Truro, a pub raised eyebrows in the same year when trying to make sure customers still turned up for a pint while the street was closed for water works. "THE WIG AND PENIS OPEN FOR BUSINESS," read the sign.
