Trump resort in Scotland and much brew on Irn Bru

Do you remember Campa Cola, Citra the super cooler or Goldspot the Zing thing ~ products and advertisements that once ruled Indian hearts .. there was this big Goldspot factory in Arumbakkam, which was a landmark before DG Vaishnav College ! ~ can you imagine that a soft drink or rather a ban on the drink in a private hotel could trigger political protests !!!

Irn-Bru a Scottish carbonated soft drink, often described as "Scotland's other national drink" (after whisky) is in news !!   It is produced in Westfield, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, by A.G. Barr of Glasgow, since moving out of their Parkheadfactory in the mid-2000s. In 2011, Irn Bru closed their factory in Mansfield ; Innovative and sometimes controversial marketing campaigns have kept it as the number one selling soft drink in Scotland – like many other cool drinks – it is one made up of  Carbonated Water, Sugar, Acid (Citric Acid), Flavourings (Including Caffeine, Ammonium Ferric Citrate & Quinine), Sweeteners (Aspartame, Acesulfame K), Preservative (E211), Colours (Sunset Yellow FCF, Ponceau 4R)

In news  :   Trump Turnberry is a golf resort on the coast of the outer Firth of Clyde in southwestern Scotland owned by United States President Donald Trump. Located in South Ayrshire on the rugged coast, it comprises three links golf courses, a golf academy, a five-star James Miller-designed hotel from 1906, along with lodge and cottage accommodations.  In 1902, golf course designer Willie Fernie was commissioned by the Marquess of Ailsa to lay out a championship course. In 1906, a hotel was built, and the course began to take its modern structure. The property was used as an airbase during the First World War, and a landing strip built for this purpose still exists, now disused.  The hotel was bought by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. in 1997, and until October 2008 was operated under the Westinbrand.  Donald Trump purchased the hotel and golf courses from Leisurecorp in April 2014,[ and  renamed Trump Turnberryin June 2014. Trump resigned his directorship of the companies which own Trump Turnberry in January 2017, just before he was inaugurated as President of the United States, and passed control to his sons Eric and Donald.

Today Guardian reports that Trump has angered  Scots with ban on Irn-Bru at luxury golf resort - Scotland’s favourite non-alcoholic drink banned from Turnberry resort over its carpet-staining properties.  On a visit,  Donald Trump officially opened his Ayrshire hotel and golf resort, Trump Turnberry, which has undergone a £200m refurbishment. The ban came to light after guests asked for Scotland’s favourite non-alcoholic beverage to be supplied at an event but were refused because staff were concerned about potential spills. The combination of colourants that give the fizzy drink its distinctive luminous orange hue are believed to be responsible for its notorious indelibility. 

Turnberry’s general manager, Ralph Porciani, told the Ayrshire Post: “We can’t have it staining when to replace the ballroom carpet would be £500,000 alone. This is seen as an affront coming  after a change in recipe cut the sugar content of the drink by almost half following the introduction of the UK government’s sugar tax, prompting fans to stockpile cans of the original version. The piecemeal ban on Scotland’s other national drink, long avowed as the ultimate hangover cure, has caused inevitable outrage on social media, and will likely swell the protests already planned should Trump visit Scotland as part of his trip to the UK in July.

The US president, whose mother was born on the island of Lewis, also owns a golf resort in Aberdeenshire, and is expected to meet the Queen at Balmoral during his controversial visit which is planned for 13 July. The Scottish Labour leader, Richard Leonard, has pledged to lead the protests against Trump: “Someone who holds such misogynist, racist and anti-trade union views not to mention his whole approach to foreign policy, someone who rejects the Paris climate change agreement, should simply not be given the red-carpet treatment.” The Scottish Greens leader, Patrick Harvie, vowed that Trump would be “met with a level of protest not seen since the Iraq war”.

Scotland’s first minster, Nicola Sturgeon, has previously spoken out against a state visit by Trump. Last November, after the president retweeted an anti-Muslim video, she argued that such a visit would be “inappropriate”, adding: “When President Trump was first elected I said that we could not afford to compromise our own principles in the interests of diplomatic silence and this is one occasion where that is absolutely the case.”

Irn-Bru – which is not, despite its famous advertising tagline, actually made from girders, but does contain a total of 32 flavouring agents – consistently outsells all other fizzy drinks in Scotland. First produced in 1901 under the name Iron Brew, the Bru has cultivated a maverick status amid other beverage behemoths such as Coca-Cola, producing near-the-knuckle adverts including a billboard of a cow with the tagline: “When I’m a burger I want to be washed down with Irn-Bru”, which drew 700 complaints.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

10^th May 2018.