Police mount search for persons defaming Amstel Malta Brand

*as SON declares, “There’s No Fake Amstel Malta”

Kufre Ekanem, Corporate Affairs Adviser, NB Plc

The case of the evil campaign launched against Amstel Malta brand by ‘yet to be identified third parties’ took a new turn yesterday, when the Corporate Affairs Adviser of Nigeria Breweries Plc informed the public, that the police has been properly briefed and that they have swung into action to investigate and fish out those involved.

Ekanem declared that these set of evil-minded people have been spreading falsehood about the brand through a well-funded and coordinated public campaign, with one of the smear campaign saying that there is a fake Amstel Malta in the market which has a fake NIS logo that is not approved by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON). He added that the activities of these third parties have included the production and circulation of videos, news stories and photographs amongst others on social media.

Explaining further, Ekanem stated that “in the normal course of product and packaging renovation, old packaging and the new introduction co-exist in the market until the old one dries out.

“In view of the twelve month shelf life, we currently have Amstel Malta with both the old and new packaging in some parts of the market. Sadly, it is the new approved packaging with the new NIS logo which has received market acceptance over the past few months that is now being defamed as “fake” by these persons!”

Springing up in defence of the new packaged Amstel Malta, the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) debunked the spurious claims of a fake Amstel Malta in circulation. According to Mr. Fred Akingbesote, the Deputy Director, who spoke on behalf of the Director General of the organisation, said that, “Nigerian Breweries have met all SON safety and quality requirements and have complied with all requirements of the new National Industrial Standard (NIS) logo.

“In August 2016, Amstel Malta, the premium, low sugar formulated malt drink from the stable of Nigerian Breweries, launched a new credential campaign Why Add More. Shortly after the campaign, a picture went viral that a fake version of the Amstel Malta is in circulation. This was because the new packaging wore the new NIS logo while the old packaging had the old NIS logo of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria.”

Amstel Malta

Akingbesote confirmed that the NIS logo on Amstel Malta is the highest mark of quality from SON and commended the management of Nigerian Breweries for its commitment to the highest quality standard. He stated that Nigerian Breweries is one of the first companies to adopt the new NIS logo which was launched in September 2015.

He maintained that the people behind the defamation are just playing on the intelligence of Nigerians. “We have a web site (www.son.gov.ng) which contains all information on our standards and quality regulations. Every Nigerian who has doubts about any product certified by SON should crosscheck the facts”, he said.

Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is the statutory body that is vested with the responsibility of standardizing and regulating the quality of all products in Nigeria.