Brewdog launches Pink IPA “beer for girls” ahead of International Women’s Day, to Twitter backlash

Brewdog has launched a “satirical” Pink IPA with the tagline “beer for girls” ahead of International Women’s Day, though its campaign has been met with a swathe of negative feedback on social media. The beer is a twist on the brewery’s core product, the Punk IPA, and comes complete with a pink label, the small print explaining that “Punk’s for men and Pink’s for women. Right? WRONG. Beer is for everyone, and gender is not defined by color.

“It’s time to throw a Molotov cocktail through the glass ceiling,” the can’s mission statement continues, stating that for four weeks, Brewdog will donate at least 19% of proceeds – the gender pay gap – from sales of the Pink and Punk IPAs to causes that fight gender inequality. “Pink IPA – not ‘beer for girls’. Beer for equality,” it concludes.

In a tweet, the company continued to point out the satirical intentions of the campaign: “We’ve created a beer for girls. And it’s pink. Because women only like pink and glitter, right? #Sarcasm Let’s show that enough is enough with stereotypes.”

However Twitter users said that the campaign had “missed the mark”, was “poorly thought out”, and the message was confusing when placed out of context, claiming the label only perpetuated the stereotype it was aiming to defy. “No one stood in Tesco looking at a shelf is going to get that,” said one comment. “They’re going to think it’s a serious attempt at marketing to women.”

“Highlighting that companies are “lazily targeting the female market" by changing the label to pink and putting ‘Beer for Girls’ on the label, might go over a lot of people’s heads and they just seeing as offensive?” another commented.

Reporter for Cityam, Alys Key, tweeted: “Ah, I see BrewDog is now that lad from your A-level politics class who makes ‘get back in the kitchen’ jokes but it’s ok because he’s being ‘ironic’ and is actually a ‘feminist’.”

We’ve created a beer for girls. And it’s pink. Because women only like pink and glitter, right?

臘‍♀️ #Sarcasm

Lets show that enough is enough with stereotypes. pic.twitter.com/g1zonXFInm

— BrewDog (@BrewDog) March 6, 2018