// Wally Gobetz / Flickr; Fox Network
Duff beer on sale at the São Paulo Municipal Market, Brazil. On the right, the iconic “Duffman” who popularized the fictional brand
Matt Groening spoke out against the marketing of the iconic “Duff beer” from “The Simpsons”, despite the fact that Fox Network, which owns the image rights to the series, has in the past granted licenses to companies to sell drinks under this name. You have a strong reason for your opposition.
The Simpsons just removed the iconic “Duffman“, character who serves as the mascot of the fictional Duff Beerafter almost three decades on the series. The character first appeared in 1997 and has been present in dozens of episodes since then.
With the voice of Hank AzariaDuffman was known for shaking his hips and shouting his popular catchphrase, “Oh, yeah!” — in addition to always presenting himself with an extravagant belt made of beer cans.
It remains to be seen whether the character definitely disappearedbut in reality this is not the first time that the series creator, Matt Groeningstrives to put an end to anything related to Duff Beer, note a .
The success of The Simpsons has inspired many people and companies in the past to try marketing Duff as a real ale. In 1995, South Australian Brewing Company and Lion Nathan Australia launched their own version of Duff in Australia without approval from 20th Century Fox.
The two companies were then taken to court, and production was stopped shortly afterwards. To the boxes that remained unsold became collector’s items, and were sold for thousands of dollars online.
Fox also successfully blocked a attempt to register the Duff brand on Europa, e seized 60,000 bottles of “Duff brand” beer to a company in Chile in 2013. However, he appears to have changed his mind the following year: granted Woolworths a license to sell “Duff”, complete with the series logo and everything — but only in Australian stores.
The agreement didn’t last longdue to a complaint from the Alcohol Policy Coalition. Woolworths discontinued its stock to avoid the possibility that the brand could attract underage fans from The Simpsons.
The complaint filed against Woolworths is essentially the result of Groening’s concern that if a real beer based on Duff were made available, it would “could encourage children to drink alcohol“.
The fact that Groening made such a statement in opposition to a product that Fox approved is an indication that may not have been informed of the agreement.
It is also possible that do not have great decision-making power on the subject, despite news that shows that there will be refused or even rejected to license the brand Duff over the years.
