Brewdog boss James Watt said he has paid out almost £500,000 to winners of the misleading ‘solid gold’ beer can promotion.
Customers were offered the chance to purchase Brewdog cans hidden in cases in 2021 which were promoted as being solid gold.
However, some winners questioned the legitimacy of this claim, digging deeper to find that they were only gold-plated.
Watt, who co-founded the Scottish company in 2007, said he “falsely thought” the cans were made from solid gold.
He was forced to pay out half a million sterling after some winners complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which upheld claims that three adverts were misleading.
Complaints focused on the validity of the claims regarding the gold can, as well the true value, which Brewdog claimed to be £15,000.
However, the ASA found that a solid gold 330ml can would cost around £363mln, although the watchdog did not demand Watt or Brewdog pay this amount for the 50 cans that went into circulation due to the general customer likely to beunaware of the price of gold.
"Those were 3 very expensive mistaken tweets that I sent out in my enthusiasm for our new campaign," Mr Watt said in a post on LinkedIn on Saturday.
"The Gold Can saga was headline news. We were made to look dishonest and disingenuous and we took a real hammering online and in the press. Deservedly so. My initial tweets had been misleading and we deserved the flak," he added.