Back
in March this year Heineken
pulled an advert for their new low calorie beer. The advert showed a beer
sliding past a number of black people before stopping in front of a lighter
skinned person, with the tagline “Sometimes lighter is better.” It was pulled
after numerous complaints, including one from Chance the Rapper, about the
unquestionable racist tone to the advert.
At
around the same time Brewdog was attempting to address the gender pay gap
situation with their Pink
IPA take on Punk IPA. The idea was widely panned; the premise seemingly in
the right direction but the execution poor.
In
a society of personal opinion I know which one I see as the more derisory, yet
the scorn from those that I choose to follow on various social media platforms
was aimed at the latter advertising campaign. Indeed it is still being
discussed five months later as a reason to boycott the brand.
I’ve
not seen anything said of Heineken’s pulled advertisement since March. In fact,
I saw little outcry about it at the time.
This
week Brewdog made the unusual PR move to
parody famous pornographic website PornHub to launch their own TV channel.
Again, the
social media voices were not impressed, with some stating that they would
begin to shun the brewery’s bars and their products.
Some
of those voices have previously been vocally supportive of Heineken taking
a large stake of London based brewery Beavertown. Just a few months ago. No
mention of Lighter is Better occurred.
But
we were still talking Pink IPA. We’ll probably be talking PornDog for a
similarly lengthy period.
They are were
one of our own.
There
is a risk of whatabouttery to this post thus far but that isn’t my objection.
People will express anger and discontent about those happenings they feel more
connected to. My personal opinion about which marketing campaign is the more
heinous crime is irrelevant. I am intrigued as to how the Beer Bubble
approaches the different offences though. I make the comparisons because they
are... comparable.
The
reaction and focus on the Scottish breweries continually desperate antics fall
fouler of the Bubble because they are treated like the rogue sibling that you
haven’t quite given up on. You can remember the good times when you were kids
together, before their heads were turned by the wrong crowd. You loved them and
it has been difficult to let them go. They haven’t been ostracised from the
family yet and so each of their mistakes is still a personal disappointment.
The
truth is they should have been abandoned by now. They belong to another family;
the family that seem to be ignored by all. I can only think that more wasn’t
made of that Heineken advertisement because people that I communicate with have disassociated
themselves from the brand. It may as well be happening in another industry. We
continue to treat Brewdog like the little local brewery down the road in the
tiny industrial unit. It is time to start viewing them as the corporate machine
they are.
That
isn’t to say that you can’t take a stand when they do something offensive and
can’t have an opinion on it but we need to distance ourselves from the punk
ideals.
Punk
– yeah, that’s another thing. I
wrote in 2016, after visiting the Ellon headquarters, that we need to let
them have the word Punk. They are not Punk in the same way Lady Gaga’s fans
aren’t actual monsters or Taylor Swift fans aren’t a quick pint downed whilst
waiting for the train. I’m repeating myself but just let it go. It negates all
arguments when the only response is that’s not very punk.
Outside the Bubble
Some
conversations are perfectly timed and bring you back to reality. Beer Twitter
is loud and obnoxious at times. Some of the people may have thousands of
followers, but it still exists within the industry itself.
On
the same day that Brewdog launched its Beer Channel and subsequent pornographic
promotional material I went to visit my sister. Whilst we were chatting, my
brother-in-law said to me, “I had that Clockwork Tangerine by that Brewdog
the other day, Mark. Ooof that’s a good drink.”
The
mention of the brewery brought the earlier Twitter conversations back to mind.
I very nearly responded with a breakdown of the day’s developments: “Well
Brewdog have actually upset a lot of people today with this new advert....”
I
imagined the scenario in my head as I regaled my non-beery brother-in-law with
details about a PornHub parody and the successive reaction. I pictured his face
turn from polite interest to complete bemusement. I could hear the long pause
that would succeed it, followed by a murmured, “Oh right... yeah... so...
it’s a nice beer though.”
He
wouldn’t care, not because he doesn’t care about others prejudices but because
it’s just beer
to him. It is to the vast majority of the population.
Do you even BroDog?
I’ve
been a subscriber of Brewdog’s
Fanzine service since its inception and have needlessly taken it upon
myself to drink the beers each time in a single sitting, reviewing them on
Instagram later on. The latest box is still sat in my fridge, with the latest
round of social media storms leaving me tentative to drink them. This is not
because of a strong feeling of embargo from myself, but more the backlash I
fear from others who have distanced themselves from the brewery.
It
is silly. Most people know people who work for the company who are great people.
I’ve been to Aberdeenshire and everybody I met in the process was wonderful.
I’ve had nothing but positive experiences in their bars (with the exception of
Brewdog Liverpool – twice.) I’ve even met some of the outside marketing team
that worked on a couple of projects for Brewdog and – guess what – they were
wonderful people, even if I found some of their work questionable.
I’ve
also fallen back to their beers through Fanzine, enjoying the
less-rough-around-the-edges more accomplished style of brewing. If I enjoy the
beers and the people under their employment are still good people then I can’t
hold up my own picket signs. James Watt being a prick to one of my friends on
social media may change that, but not the ill thought-out advertisements made
from an external marketing company.
Do we still need Brewdog? asked Kirsty Walker. There
is only so much those continually exposed to these marketing campaigns can take
before they cut themselves away. But, in all honesty, most within my beer
drinking circle gave up on the brand a long time ago. I don’t know many within
that community who go to their bars much or drink their beers regularly. I
don’t know anyone within that bubble who make beelines for them when in the
likes of Manchester or Leeds. They aren’t for us anymore. They are for the
brother-in-law to pick up in Tesco or for the non-beery friends who come to barbecues
with packs in hand. We need to stop critiquing them as a microbrewery when they
are a conglomerate. If that involves resorting to boycott for you then so be
it.
Just
don’t sit there with a Heineken beer – or any of their subsequent brands – and
tell me that the latest genital-waving from Scotland is abhorrent.
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