Beer company Brewdog is currently facing a backlash online for launching their new ‘Pink IPA’.
The Tweet by the brewery shows the new pink bottle smashing through one of their blue bottles with the caption: “This is not ‘beer for girls’. This is beer for equality.”
In a statement on their website, Brewdog wrote that the product was “satirically dubbed ‘Beer For Girls’, adding that the aim was to “expose sexist marketing to women”.
“At BrewDog, we have always believed that beer is for everyone, and equality is a fundamental right,” they said. ” So today we are launching a clarion call to end the discrimination of gender pay inequality. In the UK men earn on average 20% more than women. And that’s not ok.
“So ahead of International Women’s Day this Thursday, we are launching Pink IPA. A beer for women. A beer for equality.”
This is not ‘beer for girls’. This is beer for equality.
Pink IPA has landed.https://t.co/MRWnqaADXg pic.twitter.com/J9Kk4khk1h
— BrewDog (@BrewDog) March 6, 2018
They added while the beer itself was the same the packaging was pink to “raise awareness of the current, unwelcome, status quo”. They also said that they’ll be giving 20% of the proceeds from Punk IPA and Pink IPA sold over the next four weeks to charities that fight inequality and support women – and that on Thursday, anyone who identifies as female will get 20% off in all Brewdog bars.
“The gender pay gap is one issue to which we are taking aim with Pink IPA,” Brewdog went on. “But we have a second problem that also warrants action. It beggars belief that in 2018 we are still seeing some breweries rely on sexist marketing to sell their beers.”
They added: “Lazily targeting the female market with sub-par products designed by expensive research are inherently patronising. Depicting women in wholly unacceptable ways on labels is something we do not condone, and creating concepts that undermine women’s ability to enjoy beer (ANY beer) is both short sighted and restricts progression.”
However, many users on Twitter took online to accuse the brewery of hypocrisy, ‘mansplaining’ and ‘poor execution’ of their idea:
Spectacular mansplaining going on here
— Almighty Faye™ (@Almighty_faye) March 6, 2018
Good thing Twitter has a *great* sense of humour. ?@BrewDog has released a pink Beer for Girls brand – and it is funding a good cause.
BUT – pretty sure the 'it's ironic' defence doesn't work anymore though. https://t.co/gHWqXIaI7a via @thedrum
— John McCarthy (@JohnGeeMcCarthy) March 6, 2018
Pink IPA from @BrewDog is "a send up of the lazy marketing efforts targeting the female market" – but also looks just the same as those lazy efforts https://t.co/7boJ0a3oX0
— Louise Ridley (@LouiseRidley) March 6, 2018
Pink IPA, not a 'beer for girls', a beer for equality.
As a nod to a universal gender wage gap: 20% of proceeds go to charities that support women and fight inequality, 20% off this beer at Brew Dog bars for women and a campaign that mocks patronising gendered marketing. Genius. https://t.co/cImAvdiJb4— Jenni (@jenni_harri) March 6, 2018
jesus christ that pink IPA advertising is shocking . If a girl wants to drink a beer let her fuckin drink a beer, without trying to force the fact it has to be girly enough to do so which somehow correlates to pink? I hate pink
— beth (@bethjjackson) March 6, 2018
That brew dog pink ipa does have good intentions behind it but the execution is so poor
— Sam (@TrueZero_) March 6, 2018
All the good intentions behind Brewdog's Pink IPA mean very little once they actually put the product out there. Make the charitable donations, make drinks cheaper for women, do all that. But ironic sexist branding still looks like normal sexist branding.
— Robert Perry (Pez) (@pez_sez) March 6, 2018
also a quote from the article – 'Lazily targeting the female market with sub-par products designed by expensive research are inherently patronising. ' you realise this is pretty much what you are doing.
— Georgina Breeze (@georgina_breeze) March 6, 2018
Brewdog then responded by defending their decision, and calling out others that take their decision to have the beer as ‘pink’ on face value – adding that it was time to “show that enough was enough with stereotypes”.
We’ve created a beer for girls. And it’s pink. Because women only like pink and glitter, right?
?♀️ #Sarcasm
Lets show that enough is enough with stereotypes. pic.twitter.com/g1zonXFInm
— BrewDog (@BrewDog) March 6, 2018
This comes after Doritos came under fire last year for revealing plans for “lady friendly crisps“.