Wittekerke (White Church) is the name of a popular soap on Flemish Television in Belgium (VTM). It’s aired around 6 PM every weeknight. Entirely written and produced in Flanders, it runs already for 6 years. It’s all about the problems and the many relationships between mainly young professionals in a typical Flemish town. You know, the usual soap stuff. The name Wittekerke represents the name of the fictional town. Though, most outdoor scenes are shot in and around the seaside resort of Knokke-Heist.

Anyway, the producers of the soap licensed the name Wittekerke to a brewer, to bottle his wheat or white (of course) beer. The name says it all. The producers see the venture as a promotion, that actually will let them earn some money. The brewer, Bavik, believes he can cash in on the popularity of the soap. All beer consumed on screen in the soap will be Wittekerke of course. Yes, in Europe, it’s OK, and normal, to actually drink a beer in a soap, watched by a fair amount of teenagers
Newsletter October 1998