Portman Group’s Independent Complaints Panel (ICP) said the name Red Army, alongside the packaging itself, was ‘entirely inappropriate’ for an alcoholic drink.
Polish beverage producer Bartex sells the rifle shaped bottle in a wooden box, accompanied by a herbal vodka bottle in the shape of a grenade and glasses with a Red Army emblem.
Gun in a gift pack
A complaint from the Independent Complaints Panel of the Responsible Retailing Code of Northern Ireland claimed the product was linked to violent, aggressive, dangerous or anti-social behaviour.
According to the panel, Bartex's response was the product was simply a glass bottle shaped as a gun, sold in a gift pack, and therefore had no association with weapons or violent behaviour.
Bartex added it was not its intention to ‘create or promote violence,’ the panel reported.
Portman Group is the self-regulatory body for alcohol marketing in the UK, funded by 10 companies including Bacardi Brown-Forman Brands UK, Carlsberg UK, Diageo GB and Pernod Ricard UK.
The ICP found Red Army Vodka to be in breach of the Code of Practice, and the panel has instructed licensees and retailers not to order Red Army Vodka in its current packaging after June 20.
Licensees who place orders before then should consider limiting the order to the quantity that would normally be sold by this date.