A Victorian craft brewery’s social media post has been banned by ABAC. 

The Twitter post by Geelong’s Southern Bay Brew Co showed a 1950s style image of a man in a suit drinking a glass of beer with the message “there’s nothing wrong with you that me drinking six beers can’t fix”.

A complaint to the ABAC said “six beers is clearly in excess of responsible drinking practices”.

Southern Bay Brewery said it outsourced its social media to a “contracted media company based in Tasmania” and that the post was intended to be humorous, rather than offering serious advice.

“We do not believe the post suggested that the consumption of six beers suggested it would change the person’s tolerance of another individual,” the company said. “We believe the post relates to a more relaxed outlook. It certainly would not contribute to any significant change in behaviour.” 

The Australia’s Responsible Alcohol Marketing Code ruled that the tweet implied people should use alcohol to “overcome a deficit” and implied it is acceptable to use excessive alcohol consumption to deal with difficult situations.

However, ABAC ruled that the message did not encourage excessive drinking.

The image has since been deleted from Southern Bay Brew Co’s Twitter account.