Fok Hing Gin agrees to redesign to help pronunciation of name after consumer complaint in UK

Earlier this month, Hong Kong gin brand Fok Hing Gin sparked concern among some consumers in the UK due to its original name in a product contained an offensive term. It was ordered by the British drinks industry watchdog to change its name. Since then, the company said it will roll out a better design to tell the pronunciation of the brand.

In response to British drinks industry watchdog Portman Group's provisional decision, the company stated that it believed the panel had taken an overly cautious position, and that the phonetic expression of the phrase "Fok" was more likely understood as the word "feck" would be, which was defined as medium strength language.

The company reiterated the importance of the correct pronunciation of the word to avoid the misconception that a profane word was used. To emphasise this, Fok Hing Gin stated that it would include the written phonetic pronunciation of “Fok Hing” on the UK version of the back label and would also include its Chinese term (福興) in Cantonese spelling.

Additionally, the company stated it would redesign the back label of the product to include a graphic representation of Fuk Hing Lane, a street located at Causeway Bay, and would also include a descriptive narrative of the brand story to provide context for consumers regarding the name and heritage of the product.

Fok Hing Gin also addressed the concern that its marketing activities on social media and its own website alluded to profanity. It explained that it had employed a marketing agency for website copy development and campaign management that had used comedic effect, tongue in cheek humour and to banter and engage British consumers as part of localisation efforts. Fok Hing Gin maintained this had positively resonated with consumers but acknowledged that this method was not compliant with Portman Group guidelines.

The company explained that it had terminated its relationship with the marketing agency in question and had created new brand guidelines for future advertising materials. Fok Hing Gin also confirmed the line "any similarity is purely deliberate" had been removed from its website to avoid any misunderstanding as to how the name should be accurately perceived.

Fok Hing Gin's target audience are mainly aged from 25 to 54. It reiterated that that the brand had positive feedback through social media and numerous five-star review and its consumers were suitably informed to make sound judgments on their brand purchasing decisions.

Portman Group''s panel said it welcomed the company’s commitment to amend its marketing efforts in response to the provisional decision. However, it also noted that the strength of the profanity, in combination with the company’s accompanying marketing materials, where the name was used in such a way that was clearly alluding to profanity, meant that the packaging was likely to cause serious and widespread offence.

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