Jagermeister logo does not offend Christians, court rules

Company’s 80-year-old branding based upon patron saint of hunting

It had been argued that company's St Hubert-inspired logo could cause offence (Mike Coppola/Getty Images for NYCWFF)

The logo used by Jagermeister is not offensive to Christians, a Swiss court has ruled.

The liqeur’s branding featuring a luminous white cross shining between a deer’s antlers in a reference to the parable of St Hubert.

The story goes that following the death of his wife, the so-called Apostle of the Ardennes threw himself into his passion for hunting, skipping church to chase deer until one Good Friday when his prey turned to face him.

As a shining cross shone between the creature’s antlers – the imagery used by Jagermeister in its branding – a voice urged Hubert to turn to God lest he end up in hell. Hubert was convinced, and led a pious life thereafter, becoming known as the patron saint of hunting.

In light of this, the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property claimed that religious consumers could be offended were Jagermeister – which translates to “hunt master” – allowed to expand the use of its logo beyond drinks and clothing.

But Swiss judges ruled in favour of the company’s planned expansion.

The Federal Administrative Court decided Jagermeister’s “intensive” use of the branding over some eight decades had “weakened its religious character”.

This made the chance of genuine offence unlikely, the court ruled.

The firm is now free to use its logo in Switzerland on a vast array of products, such as mobile phones and cosmetics.

On its website, the company says that Jagermeister’s inventor, Curt Mast, “thought this powerful story was a perfect match to his potent elixir and adopted the emblem of the stag in honour of the true ‘Hunting Master’”.