Beer and cider festival responds to sexism accusation
A dispute has been brewing over the choice of logo for this year’s St Albans Beer and Cider Festival, but the event’s organisers dispute allegations of the design using “nostalgia as a justification for a return to sexism in advertising”.
Local newspaper the Herts Advertiser reported about a couple of social media comments over the recently-unveiled logo for the upcoming edition of the festival, due to take place at local theatre the Alban Arena between 24 and 27 September.
One Facebook commenter wrote highly critically of the design, which features a woman wearing stockings and drinking a pint, as was reported in the Herts Advertiser: “I think that the organisers of what is normally an excellent beer festival have done themselves no favours in selecting this abomination of a logo.”
Another commented: “Nostalgia as a justification for a return to sexism in advertising? I don’t think so.”
However, the South Herts branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has challenged these criticisms, citing the historical inspiration behind it.
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Emily Ryans, sponsorship manager at St Albans Beer & Cider Festival, explained the reasoning behind the design in a statement: “Rather than adopting soulless corporate branding, we instead choose to highlight a different piece of local history each year, and on this occasion are marking the centenary of Ballito Hosiery Mill. In doing so, we’ve been inspired by Ballito’s 1950s advertising, exhibited by St Albans Museum.”
The Ballito Hosiery Mill stood on Hatfield Road from 1925 until 1970, largely producing stockings and tights, though it was repurposed for the manufacture of artillery during the Second World War. The site of factory is also just down the road from CAMRA’s national headquarters, though it is now a Morrisons supermarket.
“The character in our logo is a confident, empowering woman, designed to both celebrate the important history of a factory that employed hundreds of local women, as well as make the point that beer festivals – which have suffered from a traditionally male image – are open to all,” Ryans continued. “While some questions have been raised by those unaware of the context of this branding, in general the response from our social media followers has been overwhelmingly positive.”
The logo for the 2024 edition of the festival was an anthropomorphised gas lamp, a nod to the bicentenary of the city of St Albans receiving street lighting.
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