Uproar brews over pop recipe
It’s orange, fizzy and tastes like liquid bubble gum.
And while whisky is Scotland’s national drink to the world, to many locals, Irn Bru is a close second.
The company that makes Irn Bru says it will reduce the amount of sugar in its iconic drink this month, a change that has caused an uproar among its large fan base. The change in recipe, widely attributed to a new soda tax that comes into force in Britain this year, has also led to reports of panic buying in Scottish supermarkets.
“It’s one of our symbols of being unique and different in the way we feel about ourselves,” said Stephen M. Blythe, a technology lawyer in Glasgow.
After he saw an announcement on the company’s website about the change in his favourite drink, he set up a Facebook page to try to stop the recipe alteration. He has since joined forces with another man who began a Change.org petition for the cause.
Some have compared the recipe change to the “new Coke” blunder of 1985. At the time, Coca-Cola replaced its century-old formula with a sweeter drink, only to put “Classic Coke” back on the shelves less than three months later, after facing angry customer complaints.
The makers of Irn Bru, in a series of candid communications with consumers on social media, responded promptly to the growing concerns.
“We’ve done a shed-load of tests on this,” read one message from Irn Bru’s official Twitter account. “We hope you’ll agree it still tastes amazing.”
But unlike the irritated Coke customers of three decades ago, Irn Bru’s fans have social media at their disposal, and opponents of the change have been vocal.
The orange-coloured fizz first had its debut in 1901 under the name Iron Brew from a secret recipe, known only to three people. The company’s former chair still mixes the formula. The family-run company that manufactures the drink, A.G. Barr, renamed its beverage Irn Bru after the Second World War, when new British rules required names to reflect what products actually contained.
The drink does contain ammonium ferric citrate, which is technically iron, but it is not brewed. The new name, however, didn’t keep the company from using a new slogan, later made famous by decades of advertising: “Irn Bru, made in Scotland from Girders,” pronounced with rolled Rs, of course.
A spokesperson for A.G. Barr said there have been recipe variations over the years, including during the Second World War, when sugar was in short supply, but they haven’t interfered with the original secret formula.
The Irn Bru brand is closely associated with Scotland, and the company’s marketing has played on that persona for decades. Scotland — a largely self-governing entity within Britain with a strong independence movement — has a distinct national identity. Irn Bru is seen as quintessentially Scottish and associated with strength, but also with awkwardness and a wry sense of humour.