Robert John Sarich goes on a rant about people buying trolley-fulls of beer with their kids early in the morning. / Robert John Sarich
Johnny "Danger" Bennett's beer brand has been pulled from the shelves of a major New Zealand supermarket chain, following a backlash online.
Danger's Lager is promoted by the social media star, who describes himself as an "amateur stuntman". His Facebook page has more than 250,000 followers.
He shot to fame in 2015 after footage emerged showing him car-surfing over Auckland's Harbour Bridge from the roof of a taxi.
Johnny "Danger" Bennett is a social media celebrity known for his controversial stunts. Photo / Facebook
After Bennett's beer was released last Tuesday, Auckland community worker Robert Sarich shared a video on Facebook, claiming that he was alarmed about the number of parents and their children who were at PAK'nSAVE Manukau so early in the morning, just to be among the first to purchase the brew.
"What I noticed this morning was a huge line and that line was there to buy Johnny Danger's beer," he said. "I'm not opposed to people buying beer, what I'm opposed to is people buying beer with their kids in their trolley, stacked to the max with beer.
"The priority was not about morning routine; the priority was about going down there and grabbing a s***-tonne of piss.
"If he were attracting a clientele that was buying just one box, it wouldn't be an issue, but because of his social media profile, he has a s***-tonne of people out here just smashing it," he said.
"I don't want to sabotage what he is doing, this was always about raising awareness to our whanau to make sure they have their priorities right when they drink.
"I want him to think about the social responsibility he has."
Sarich has been a community worker for more than 10 years, and said he posted the video after dealing with many Kiwi families who prioritised purchasing alcohol and drugs instead of feeding their families.
Robert Sarich says Kiwis need to get their priorities right. Photo / Facebook
"For some our whanau who abuse alcohol it becomes their number one priority, and that's the priority even when they're running out of food," he said. "The children do not register as high as everything else when they're addicted to booze."
Antoinette Laird, a spokesperson for Foodstuffs, which owns PAKn'SAVE, became aware that a store was selling the beer promoted by the social media figure last week.
"It is apparent that the people involved did not appreciate the nature or extent of this individual's social media content," she said.
"Foodstuffs does not condone the behaviour consistently exhibited by this individual through social media channels, and withdrew the product from sale."
