Dragon Soop Blue Raspberry Caffeinated Alcoholic Beverage (8 x 500ml Cans)

Product Information

Commenting on the decision, the Chair of the Independent Complaints Panel, Nicola Williams, said: “Whilst creativity and brands expressing their identities through their products is to be encouraged, care must be taken to avoid associating alcohol with bravado or suggesting a consumer must be daring to drink it. The company then explained that Dragon Soop Venom had similar dominant flavour notes to its on-trade namesake which included orange, other fruit hints and a touch of the rich, round caramel associated with Bourbon. The company stated that it recognised that while each element of the marketing and design of Dragon Soop was important, the overall impression was the most important element to avoid direct or indirect particular appeal to under-18s.

The Panel then considered the company’s claim that snakes were not aggressive animals. The Panel noted that the company had provided images of various brands which featured snakes and agreed that snakes were not always aggressive, but that the snake depicted on Dragon Soop Venom was in a clear striking pose with fangs bared. The Panel therefore remained of the view, that in this particular context, the snake depicted was aggressive. The Panel also considered that in comparison to other products from the Dragon Soop range, which the Panel had previously considered and not upheld under any section of the Code, Dragon Soop Venom had a different appearance. The Panel considered that, as pointed out by the company, the other products in the Dragon Soop range also included the flavour variant multiple times around the top of the can. However, the Panel considered that this presentation of the word ‘venom’, alongside the aggressive snake with its fangs bared, created an association with bravado. The Panel considered the name Venom would be recognised by the majority of UK consumers to mean ‘poison’ in its day-to-day usage and noted this in the context of a beverage which had a relatively high alcohol and caffeine content. The company stated that a company, whether it be a Code Signatory or member of the Portman Group, should be able to trust that a ‘final’ decision was final. The company explained that should the same product be subject to complaints of the same nature on more than one occasion, businesses would find it impossible to make medium to long-term planning and investment decisions. The company explained that Dragon Soop Venom was responsibly marketed, well understood by its target market and that ‘venom’ was a known flavour to its young adult target market. The company asserted that the Panel’s provisional decision was subjective and based on mistaken assumptions.

‘He thought it would have been out of his system’

Moderate - On your feet for much of the day, either standing or occasional slow paced walking. Typical jobs: shop assistant, teacher, chef/cook, bar worker, engineer. NIADA is the alliance which facilitates co-operation among voluntary and community sector organisations supporting those affected by alcohol and drug use, and their families. We as a collective membership group wish to submit a complaint about caffeinated alcoholic drinks. The company noted the Panel’s rationale that Dragon Soop Venom was significantly different to the rest of the Dragon Soop range as it considered that Venom did not indicate its flavour and was marketed mainly on the danger and intimidation associated with venom, alongside the aggressive snake imagery. The company also noted the Panel’s point that Dragon Soop Venom had a clear association with poison, which implied that the drink was dangerous to consume and therefore required bravado to do so.

The company noted that there were specific cues which had been defined by the Panel as possibly having a particular appeal to under-18s. ‘Bright, high contrast colours’ were an example and the company highlighted that many alcoholic brands featured colour schemes which could be described in this way. In contrast, the company explained that Dragon Soop was specifically designed not to be garish or particularly bright and that the different colours used throughout the range were to denote the various flavours within the range, as was common practice for flavoured alcoholic beverages. The company explained that, taken in conjunction with the well-known flavour of the product, it was reasonable to use the image of a snake, albeit one that took up a small part of the overall area of the can. The company stated that it was natural for a brand to make such a pictorial association when creating the can design. The company pointed out that contrary to the Panel’s assessment, the use of a snake image should not be assumed to be indicative of aggression or evil. The company explained that a Google search of the term ‘snake symbolism in literature’ showed that it was a complex symbol and was one of the oldest and most widespread symbols used in mythology. The company further explained that snakes were a symbol of fertility, healing, guardianship, rebirth or renewal, alongside more negative symbolism.

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The company explained that in 2015, Dragon Soop was fully investigated by the Independent Complaints Panel (Panel) under Code rules 3.2(f) and 3.2(h) which it found to not be in breach. The company highlighted that it had received a letter from the Chair of the Panel that there had not been any breach of the Code and that the decision was final. Each can of Dragon Soop has caffeine equivalent to more than two shots of espresso and four units of alcohol