Guinness have officially cancelled its St. Arthur’s Day drinks promotion but the brewer has resisted claims that it gave into pressure to abandon the one-day drinking celebration.
The annual drinks promotion has came in for strong criticism in the past with claims from high profile figures within government saying that the Arthur’s Day promotion encouraged excessive drinking and led to pressure on emergency services.
A spokesperson for Guinness has said that the company was very proud of Arthur’s Day and it was a hard decision to drop the marketing scheme.
Arthur’s Day was ran annually for the past five years on 26 September when bars ran Guinness promotions and surprise bands played in certain venues around Ireland and in 55 countries worldwide.
Spokesperson for Guinness Hazel Chu was quoted saying that Arthur’s Day had been extremely successful but the company needed to explore different avenues.
It since been announced by Guinness that they will be introducing new music promotion programme called Guinness Amplify, which will support new bands.