The award for most tenuous attempt to finagle out of a sanction by a regulator goes to Stiffy's Shots. Said company has fallen foul of the alcohol industry marketing watchdog for "inappropriately linking an alcohol product with sexual success". Because as Monkey knows, beer goggles do not equate to enhanced pulling power in a bar or nightclub scenario. The company attempted to wriggle out the complaint about its vodka liqueur, intriguingly named Stiffy's Jaffa Cake, by claiming that the branding had nothing to do with sex. It said that the Portman Group, who point out that Stiffy is a "common slang term for an erection", have got it all wrong. The branding was chosen on the thoroughly market-researched grounds that some bloke who helped make it had the nickname "Stiffy". Riiiiiight. "Stiffy's products will be removed from sale in their current form," said Henry Ashworth, chief executive of the Portman Group, with more than a touch of irony. Bring on "Tumescent's Jaffa Cake" perhaps?
