This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia, which closed in 2021.

Gin Maker Poor Toms Customer Confessional Hotline 1800GINSUS Could Be Genius Or Gross: You Decide

Hotline Gin: Sydney Distillery Wants Their Customers To Confess Sins To Win
Poor Toms

A boutique Sydney gin maker is employing a highly irregular marketing tactic for customers to win a Christmas bottle of plonk -- they must confess their darkest sins.

And they must do it whilst being recorded knowing it may be shared on social media, and they must do it to a “mythical” holy spirit called Ginsus.

Genius? We think so.

Poor Toms is asking sinners to call 1800 GINSUS and, upon hearing the machine’s beep, say “forgive me 1800GINSUS for I have sinned” and spill their confession in return for a bottle of limited edition pink strawberry gin.

Confessions already posted on Poor Toms’ Facebook page include a man who slept with a guy who reminded him of his father, a bloke who peed in the punch at a friend’s 21st party and a girl who had an unfortunate public display of her period.

Co Founder Griffin Blumer said the campaign was unapologetically human.

“The 1800GINSUS campaign is messy, weird and magical -- but then, so is Poor Toms Gin, and so are our customers,” he told The Huffington Post Australia.

“We wanted to do something fun and unpretentious. I think highly curated marketing campaigns are boring and sanitised, and our customers are too smart for that.”

Founded in 2014, Poor Toms is an emerging player in the market and Blumer said this type of gimmick was new for them. But they wanted to tell real people’s stories -- not necessarily embarrass them.

“People drink it because it tastes great, but gin also has the power take you outside of yourself, break down social barriers, allow you to start a conversation with a stranger, get freaky on the dance floor,” he said.

“If you drink a few gins you could wake up with a few regrets and we wanted to absolve our customers of these regrets -- to say it’s OK to make mistakes. Ginsus will forgive you.”

Blumer said the confessions thus far have been pretty diverse, from a guy who drunkenly hooked up with his first cousin to a woman who stole kitty litter for her pet bunny. He said the admission from the girl whose period leaked all over her legs in public wasn’t the worst.

“I think it’s a charming story,” he said. “The reason it won a prize, is because it’s a drama we can all relate to. I mean, not all of us have periods, but all of us have had unwanted public body fluid events at least once in our lives.

“The strangest one we have received is from a guy whose family toilet was broken, and his parents were due to arrive home, so he transferred his poo from one toilet to another using rubber gloves.

“Ten points for effort mate, but why didn’t you just use a bucket of water?”

A video posted by poortomsgin (@poortomsgin) on

But Blumer was not about to let everyone spill their guts without him joining in the fun. Bless him, for he has also sinned.

“When I was in Year 6 I would sneak into my older sister’s room to look at her Cleo and Cosmo magazines,” he said.

“This happened for some time, and I would cut out the pictures of semi-naked women and archive them in a folder under my bed. My mum found the folder -- it was devastating.

“Please forgive me, Ginsus.”

The competition ends in January.

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia. Certain site features have been disabled. If you have questions or concerns, please check our FAQ or contact support@huffpost.com.