Animated television advertisements starring the transgender playboy cow Graham Heffer ran from 1999 until 2002. The adverts attracted complaints from the public for allegedly promoting bestiality, homosexuality and drug-taking. Boddingtons become an official partner of the 2002 XVII Commonwealth Games held in Manchester in a deal worth at least £1 million. To mark the occasion, a special Boddingtons 5% ABV Commonwealth Ale cask ale was produced for the North West of England, and subsequently launched nationwide. The last Boddingtons television advertising campaign in 2005 was criticised for capitalising on the beer's Manchester heritage with a Happy Mondays soundtrack, even though production had moved out of the city. Mike Thompson, a former worker at the brewery and representative of the Transport & General Workers' Union, said: This is at best cynical and at worst a slur on our great city, its heritage and the Strangeways workers. People have lost their livelihoods because of how this company has behaved. They will not be best pleased at what we can only see as pouring salt on the wounds."