Henkell Group Ends Sports Sponsorship Deals Involving Liquor Brands

German manufacturing company Henkell & Co. Group "will end all sports sponsorship activities involving its liquor brands Wodka Gorbatschow and Kümmerling," according to Frieder Schilling of SPONSORs. The reason for the termination of its sports deals is reportedly the view of an increasingly more difficult relationship between sports and liquor. Wodka Gorbatschow was a sponsor of Bundesliga sides Mainz, Leverkusen, Augsburg and Hannover during the '14-15 season. The brand received ad space in camera view at all four clubs. Kümmerling was a partner of 2nd Bundesliga sides Darmstadt and Union Berlin along with Halleschen FC, Rot-Weiß Erfurt and Chmnitzer FC in the 3rd League. Henkell decided to end all those deals when they expired at the end of the '14-15 season (SPONSORs, 6/25).