Thumbs down:An advert for Stella Artois that suggests a single family has been brewing the lager for 600 years has come in for criticism from the British advertising watchdog.

The ad made the statement: "A family dedicated to brewing for six centuries." In a decidedly optimistic and arm-chancing defence, InBev UK - the firm that makes Stella - said the reference to "family" was meant to give an overall impression of the Artois heritage and its "family" of beers, and was not in any way meant to suggest that an actual family was involved in the production of the beer. The Advertising Standards Authority didn't buy it and ruled that readers were likely to interpret the claim to mean that "one family of common ancestry had been involved in the brewing of Stella Artois for six centuries".

A mini PR debacle

Thumbs down:Southwest Airlines, the US airline that Ryanair modelled much of its business on - except for the smiles, charm and good manners - got into a rare spot of bother recently after one of its flight attendants told a woman to cover up as her mini-skirt was "too short". Eventually the airline was forced to issue an apology but it has not been accepted by the woman in the mini, because she didn't like the marketing tie-in. The apology came in the form of a press release touting their new "mini-skirt" fares.

"They are exploiting me again by using my traumatic experience as a marketing ploy," she said.