MEDIA watchdog Ofcom has dismissed a complaint from BrewDog aimed at a BBC documentary about its chief executive, James Watt.
The complaint had claimed Watt was treated unfairly by the BBC in a Disclosure documentary entitled The Truth about BrewDog, which aired in January 2022.
The complaint had also alleged an infringement on Watt’s privacy.
But the media watchdog has now dismissed it.
The BBC reported that Ofcom had, in a written statement, said the documentary had not presented or omitted any facts in a way that was unfair, that BrewDog had been given sufficient time before broadcast to respond, and that response had been reflected fairly.
Ofcom further said the right to freedom of expression outweighed Watt’s right to privacy in this case, in both the broadcast and collection of material.
The documentary was first shown on BBC One Scotland and featured one former BrewDog employee saying it was “genuinely astonishing” that Watt owned shares in rival beer firm Heineken.
It also showed how Watt (below) had previously called out other craft beer firms for working with such international alcohol giants, and showed BrewDog marketing where they blew up Heineken products.
Responding, Watt said the shares “were held briefly as a show of good faith when we were trying to do a distribution deal with them. The deal fell through and I sold the shares.”
The documentary also contained allegations about the way Watt behaved with women.
Katelynn Ising, a former employee at BrewDog’s flagship bar and brewery in Canal Winchester, Ohio – DogTap – told Disclosure that female staff would dress down to avoid unwelcome attention from Watt.
She told the programme: “We would make a point to warn new girls — like, ‘Hey, just so you know, James Watt’s coming to town’.
“‘Just, kind of, leave after your shift, don’t really hang around [and] don’t always do your hair and makeup that day, like don’t catch his attention’.”
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She also claimed that she saw Watt take intoxicated female customers in their twenties on a private tour of the brewery.
Watt’s lawyer has fiercely denied this allegation, saying that the CEO regularly took male and female friends as well as customers on evening tours of the brewery, and that they were not intoxicated.
The lawyer added that a claim of such behaviour made in 2021 had been “fully investigated” and “not substantiated”.
The craft beer firm, which was founded in Ellon, Aberdeenshire in 2007, has expanded across the UK, Europe and into the US.
It now owns more than 100 bars worldwide employing more than 2000 staff members.
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