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This online beer shop has said it won’t sell beers with sexist labels after ‘disappointing’ SIBA debate
A UK online retailer has made explicit its policies around sexist beer labelling after a ‘disappointing’ debate at the Society of Independent Brewers Association’s (SIBA) annual trade show.
Prominent figures in the beer industry have called for a clampdown on breweries using sexist labels to market their products.
Ales By Mail issued a mission statement on Monday 19th March promising to never sell beers with sexist labelling after senior staff were “shocked and disappointed” by a panel debate on discrimination at last week’s BeerX in Manchester.
“This week we attended the SIBA Beer-X event, including a debate on sexism in the beer industry that left us shocked and disappointed,” said a statement on Ales by Mail’s website.
“You will notice as you navigate the website that we do not stock any beers that have sexist or inappropriate labelling, or any products that use imagery or language that are disparaging or exploitative of women or that we find unsupportive of equality and diversity.”
“Sadly we have now found it necessary to make an explicit statement of this long term policy, as our silence on this matter doesn’t convey our support of all the women at every level of our industry that are made to feel excluded or uncomfortable by the use and justification of these images, and fails to demonstrate our distaste at those in our industry who continue to use them.”
“Ales By Mail and its associated businesses do not and will never purchase any beer which fails to meet our standards of equality and diversity, and will not support brewers who do use such imagery and language.”
Both SIBA and The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) have faced criticism in recent months for not proactively discouraging their members from using sexist names, labels and marketing for their own beers.
In response, SIBA announced last month that it would hold a debate on sexism at its annual trade show, but many attendees, including panel guest Jaega Wise, criticised the event for its lukewarm attendance and the attitudes of some audience members.
Can honestly say I’m disappointed. Debate was busy, but I’m surprised by some of the opinions of some in 2018. We have a long way to go on the road to equality in beer.
— Jaega Wise (@jaegawise) March 15, 2018
“Can honestly say I’m disappointed,” said Jaega Wise, SIBA director and head brewer at London-based craft brewery Wild Card.
“I’m surprised by some of the opinions of some in 2018. We have a long way to go on the road to equality in beer.”
Craft beer marketing expert Steph Shuttleworth shared a photo of the audience at the start of the debate to highlight the lack of attendees.
I was really hoping for a full house at the “Marketing beer responsibly – Sexism, discrimination and branding in the beer industry” discussion. Here’s the initial crowd. @SIBA01 @SIBA_BeerX #BeerX pic.twitter.com/VG6JmK0wRu
— Steph Shuttleworth (@MissMustardBlog) March 15, 2018
The news comes after alcohol marketing regulation body Portman Group announced plans to revise its own code of practice to include guidelines on discriminative advertising.
SIBA has been contacted for a response.
I am getting really concerned about the current trend to block any sort of free speech, free expression etc. Yes some things are totally unacceptable but things such as the Dizzy Blonde beer label by Robinsons which is one that appears to be under attack is just getting too much. That particular label is an homage to a design on a WW2 aircraft in which people probably lost their lives to allow the permanently offended the right to state their case today.
Perhaps we should be encouraging everyone in the industry to lobby their MP’s to pass a law that restricts beer bottle labeling to be a simple statement that says BEER, you make up your mind which sort & the ABV value. This will maybe encourage the permanently offended to take up a new crusade, the fact beer sales would plummet off the scale would of course not matter.