By Chloe Saltau
A SENIOR Foster's executive has admitted the beer company was wrong to create the David Boon figurine, because it glorified binge drinking.
Tapping into the legend of the former Australian cricketer, who famously drank 52 cans of beer on a flight to London, the talking ''Boonie doll'' entered the Australian consciousness during the summers of 2005-06 and 2006-07.
David Boon and his talking Boonie figurine.
Chris Maxwell, national sponsorship manager at Foster's Group, conceded the brewery had not anticipated binge drinking would become such an urgent social issue.
"We thought that David Boon had a perfect fit with VB. He was a good Aussie bloke, with good Aussie values. However, we have had a lot of criticism around using him in regards to this binge-drinking issue,'' Mr Maxwell said at a Sponsorship Australasia conference in Sydney yesterday.
"Looking back, we have decided that was the wrong thing to do. We didn't have the foresight to see that this issue was going to be so significant. And in glorifying that behaviour we have added to the issue of the normalisation of binge-drinking in Australia.
''The difference is now we realise we have a responsibility to the community to promote our products in a responsible way. Therefore, we think a lot more deeply about how we use ambassadors, how we use our messages, and the potential impact down the track."
The ''Boonie'' figurine, which made comments when prompted by Channel Nine commentary, was succeeded by a Shane Warne doll.
Foster's spokesman Troy Hey said last night the ''Boonie'' campaign was intended to celebrate Boon - ''the cricketer and the character'' - and said the connection with the drinking legend was unfortunate.
''David Boon has been associated with VB well before the original figurine. That association was a very positive one and it was always built on the fact that when we asked VB drinkers who they thought was a great Australian, a great cricketer, David Boon was there.''