Interbrew is using a group of musically challenged celebrities to coerce consumers to drink more Heineken. The latest £3m TV campaign for the brand, Blackmail', breaks on Monday. It has recruited Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee to create their own rendition of The Carpenters' classic Close To You. Other celebrities join them as a sequence of four commercials progresses, with a warning each time that the singing continues until Heineken's sales go up. In the final ad, sales are deemed to have reached an acceptable level and ­ well, we won't spoil the ending. It is also continuing with the strapline How Refreshing­How Heineken'. Sales director James Dickson said: "Heineken is again breaking the rules of advertising to communicate its message to beer drinkers in an original way. Rather than using the traditional advertising approach, such as catchphrases, we have made a series of commercials purposely created to irritate viewers. "However the campaign and the implied blackmail are ironic, the ads are pretending to be irritating but are in fact very funny." The ads will run in sequence for six weeks in most ITV regions ­ except Scotland and Ulster ­ C4 and satellite channels. They will be shown at peak viewing times in the ad breaks of relevant programmes such as Stars in Their Eyes. This is part of a £14m investment for the brand which is brewed by Whitbread and distributed by Interbrew. {{DRINKS }}

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