Jul 13, 2015

'The Simpsons' will soon start selling real-life Duff beer

Fox in the 1990s: The kids still watch "The Simpsons", so sorry, we can't brand homemade Duff Beer.

Fox - Today: the kids don't watch "The Simpsons" anymore, so Chili, please go ahead and brew your own duff beer.

Fox has long discouraged the unauthorized reproduction of merchandise in "The Simpsons" world. In particular, Homer Simpson's favorite fictional drink, Duff Beer, whose license Fox has argued in court is "harmful to children." In Australia, Germany, Colombia, and other countries, the unlicensed version has been removed from shelves. In Chile, Fox has also filed an intellectual property lawsuit, and Chilean police have seized tens of thousands of smuggled Duff Beer bottles.

Not today: Fox allows Chile to bottle duff by the tens of thousands. Jeffrey Gossick, president of Fox's consumer products division, told the Wall Street Journal, "We've had a couple of problems. 'The other thing we're doing is saying goodbye to piracy. [Some fans might ask why start in Chile, but that's not the case. Demand for this unlicensed beer is spreading throughout Latin America, and Fox is looking to roll out an officially sanctioned Duff Beer ("Caramel Aromatic," Godsick said) first, before expanding into Europe (and possibly the United States) next year. Indeed, investors and analysts will eventually figure out why Fox chose Chile, and this moment in particular, to monetize Duff Beer, but if there is a backlash, it will certainly be easier to contain it in a small market like Chile.

But the show itself, "The Simpsons," once branded as harmful to children, seems to be clear in its entirety. Fox has stopped worrying that "The Simpsons" fan base is too young to get drunk and watch TV.