Carlton Pilsener ‘A traditional refreshing beer’ Poster

Leslie Jordan, CUB’s marketing manager, reported that the company spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and a year of research to produce Carlton Pilsener. Pilsener came as a result of the Liquor Royal Commission; it was a drink to tie in with later closing hours, a beer with 12 per cent less alcohol with the blessing of the Victorian police surgeon, Dr Birrell.

George Patterson Advertising agency produced two 60-second TV commercials, one at Hunter’s Lodge, Croydon, with people dancing in Bavarian costumes, and another at the Dorchester by the Yarra. The jingle which would have had some doubtful connotations a decade later went:

Keep it light, Keep it bright, Keep it young, Keep it gay, If you like it light, Pour a Carlton Pilsener.

It was all kept top secret until launching day. The bottles went unlabelled with plain crown seals and the beer just had the name ‘Special Brew No 1 ‘. Only the board knew of the plans and only after the name was revealed did the labels go to the printers.

Unfortunately Pilsener was a decade ahead of its time. There was something not manly enough, something which did not fit the Australian image about drinking a low alcohol beer. The CUB Annual Report of 1973 confessed the failure. It was the least popular of all the company beers and despite a big promotion it did not sell. So the marketing department change the name to Light Ale and somewhat sadly the annual report added: ‘We are persisting on a national basis to cater for the minority who prefer such a beer’.

This poster has all of the period cues from the late swinging sixties.