Opposition Grows To Sexist Beer Marketing In The UK

There is growing opposition among industry professionals in the UK, to breweries who use sexist gender branding on their beer labels and in marketing campaigns…And one accomplished female brewer wants to put an end to it!

In a recent address to the Brewers Congress in London, Wild Card Brewery’s Head Brewer Jaega Wise suggested a number of practical ways to improve the status of women in the beer industry in 2018, including banning sexist beer, stricter advertising standards and a call for more information about female brewers.

Wise was adamant and direct in her opposition to the use of gendered branding….

“You are completely alienating about 73% of your market, but you also run the risk of patronizing the 25%.”

She called on the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) to survey the industry and generate the necessary data to ensure that women’s voices are being heard…

“We would love to see more questions asked of brewers to try and get more information about women in beer. If we don’t have the statistics it is hard for us to take action.”

Wise also spoke about the recent restructuring of advertising codes of practice in the US, calling for similar action in the United Kingdom, according to the Morning Advertiser.

“I would like to see a marketing an advertising code of practice,” Wise said, “(the US Brewers Association) has issued a code of practice that breweries sign up to and you commit to not using sexist branding in your company.”

Finally, Wise proposed that leading British industry organizations such as CAMRA, should call for “a ban on beers with sexist imagery and branding entering SIBA and CAMRA festival competitions.”

And Wise went on to suggest that a ban put in place by either (or both) of these influential voices would “quickly stop some of the smaller breweries from deciding to have branding with boobs on the front.”

Great stuff…

And if Jaega Wise wasn’t impressive enough as both a prominent head brewer and articulate female voice for the industry, you need to know that she’s also a considerable musical talent, who when she’s not brewing at Wild Card, spends her time on stage or in the recording studio.

And you can tap into her soulful songs here

 All Image credits: Wild Card Brewery and Jaega Wise