Pernod Ricard scraps PSG deal that left bitter taste among Marseille fans

Drinks at the Port Vieux, Marseille. The city was outraged that the Provençal firm Pernod Ricard was planning a brand partnership with Paris Saint-Germain. Photograph: Andrea Sabbadini/Alamy

It is the quintessential pre-dinner apéro enjoyed in the Provençal afternoon sun, as unmistakably southern French as the clicking sound of a game of pétanque.

But at the start of this week the cloudy, aniseed-flavoured aperitif Ricard Pastis left an aftertaste even more bitter than its makers intended in the mouths of some football fans in the southern city of Marseille.