The following YouTube advert titled ‘#WEALLLOVEBEER’ aims to generate an online community through media conversation. With a hashtag alone, the video is successful in bringing thousands of like-minded individuals to social media pages. In the future, the followers could be useful for marketing strategies.
The video aims to highlight female ‘power’ by challenging gender associations, however the concept is horrifically flawed. Before I continue my rant, I will let you see for yourself:
The intro reads: “Women’s voices are getting more powerful all over the world, but can they be heard in a bar?”
As a social experiment, the creators filmed a selection of heterosexual couples ordering drinks in an American bar. Each of the women ordered a beer, whereas the men ordered wine or cocktails. When the bartender arrives to present their drinks, the females are horrified to discover their partners cocktails set in front of them.
“Wait, I didn't order this!” one lady exclaimed with disgust, gesturing to a Martini before swapping it for the pint of beer in front of her partner. The bartender apologized profusely for his assumption that a man ordered a beer. What a sexist idiot for making such an assumption, right? To be frank, the whole video was badly executed and flawed in its fabrication of female equality.
I can empathize with the attempt to equalize women when it is relevant (I am all for the women’s voices being heard!), however the assumption that only men drink beer is a social construct rather an a sexist one. Drinking beer is associated with masculine activities (bonding rituals such as fishing, watching football etc) and perceived weight gain. It is also factually proven that women prefer the taste of sweeter, fruitier drinks rather than bitter tasting beer (see study by MW Tin Hannis here). It is unusual that women drink beer for these reasons, however the notion is actually widely accepted in Western culture. Did you ever see the women in ‘Sex and the City’ drinking pints of beer? No? I rest my case.
Similarly, the fashion world often attempts to challenge gender constructs through clothing. Many designers have attempted to re-appropriate the skirt for men, however western culture has resisted (with the traditional exception of the kilt and the cassock). Similarly to the association that men drink beer, women wearing skirts is merely a gender construct that is deeply embedded into our culture. Is it fair to call a man sexist for not wearing a skirt?
Above: Kanye West receives negative press for wearing a skirt in 2012
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