It may seem that men are the only ones who drink beer, or at least they’re the vast majority.

Data show that 40% of women in Spain and 20% of women in Germany enjoy sipping their cold beer. However, many beer adverts are directed to men, as their main target.

The advert of Heineken is recently one of the most viewed videos in the Internet.

Walk in fridge

.

.

.

.

.

.

As you can read in the full credits, and as you probably can imagine, the creative team is men-only. Indeed we could entitle this spot ¨From Man to Man”, as women are totally excluded here.

According to Heineken, shopping and drinking beer are incompatible activities. It’s a pity. The brand omits an important target and, as a consequence, can lose many buyers.

.

Notwithstanding, the production qualities of this ad are very good, and watching how each group shouts when seeing its ¨favourite stuff¨ is somehow funny. After all, men and women are different. However, I have to come back to the previous question: will Heineken lose female part of market because of publishing adverts of this type?

.

Goldstar

Here is another beer advert targeting men.

.

“Thank God you are a man”

This is the slogan of Goldstar’s printed ad, which shows the different stages men and women have to go through, since the moment they take a beer until they reach the toilet. This ad was displayed at men toilets in pubs all over Israel.

If we don’t read the text, we might joke about the reality that women have to live in. In this case advert could be aimed both to men and women. However, the slogan leaves no doubt: “Thank God you are a man”.

.

Sure that it’s a beer?

On the other hand it may be that these brands target their adverts to men, because they have a special line of products for women.

.

In case of Heineken, the brand has launched a special beer for women in Germany. It’s called Charli, it contains less volume of alcohol and it’s flavoured. The brand wants to increase the beer consumption among women from a country, where a habit of drinking a beer by women is considered unsophisticated.

.

Then, where lies the real problem: in the communication of the product or in the society? Wouldn’t it be better to create campaigns aimed to ¨normalize¨ the habit of beer’s consumption among women? Wouldn’t it approach us to equality more than creating a separate, specific product?

.

Other brands have also launched beer for women:

–Karla: made by German brand Karlsberg. It’s said to have ¨healthy properties¨. There are three varieties and it’s sold in pharmacies.

–Karmi: Made by Polish division of Carlsberg. It’s a dark beer with a characteristic caramel flavour and its low in alcohol.

.

Beers low in alcohol, flavoured, sweeter than casual ones and, of course, low in calories… With so many changes, shouldn’t beer producers create a new category of product, and call it differently than ¨a beer¨? In my opinion every time there is less beer in this kind of beers. These brands trying to approach women are changing their beer into a soft drink.

Shouldn’t the producers take women more into consideration in the countries where beer consumption among female part of market is increasing? We have published previously in this blog a comment about advertising beer among women.

In those countries where becoming a regular consumer is difficult for women wouldn’t it be better to ¨stimulate proportionally¨ the beer consumption than create a pseudo-beer?

Will women conquer the beer market?

.

Full Credtis – Heineken

Client: Heineken

Agency: TBWA, Neboko

Creative: Cor den Boer,

Jorn Kruijsen,

Jeroen van de Sande

Production Company: Czar.nl

Director: Bart Timmer

Director of Photography: Alex Melman

Producer: Hein Scheffer,

Robert Nan

Editor: Annelien Wijnbergen

Sound Design/Online: the ambassadors

Music/Sound Designer: Rens Pluym

Online Editor: Ton Habraken

Full Credits – Goldstar

Advertising Agency: McCann Erickson, Tel Aviv, Israel

Creative Director: Ido Ben Dor

Copywriters: Asaf Zelikovich, Elad Gabison

Art Director: Geva Gershon

.

Resource: Ideacreativa, Trendwatching, Creativity Online.

.