Not surprisedly, she (I assume the author is Ginger Johnson, but the article doesn't specifically say) is not a fan of highly sexualized images used to market beer. I don't blame her.
One thing she wrote was interesting to me. She pointed out that this type of marketing is not only insulting to women, it is also insulting to men, saying "you're too sex-driven to think of anything else".
Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I am not insulted by this at all.
First, I don't think bottle art says anything that absolute. It's just a bottle of beer, after all. You see it, you decide if you want to buy it. It is done. Honestly, I have enough actual things to worry about without letting a bottle of beer insult me.
Second, even if the brewer is trying to say anything that profound, it is funny, isn't it? Stereotypes of the differences between women and men are amusing to me, and I think to most normal people. We all understand that these generalizations don't apply to everyone, don't we? Sort of like we understand that the chicken didn't really cross the road.
Quite honestly, the fact that Ginger says I should be when in fact I am not, makes me wonder. Maybe women don't need to be insulted by this sexist art either. Of course I'm not going to presume I'm qualified to tell you what you should or should not be insulted by. I don't necessarily see good looking women on the labels as a reduction of an actual person to their body parts. Again, it is just a beer bottle.
Generally, I don't pick my beer based on the label, anyway. I pick my beer either because it has been suggested that I try it, or because it is the most interesting sounding beer on tap wherever I am.
I do think that it is foolish for anyone to use marketing that might alienate any potential customer, though. Clearly, people are insulted by these images. Why would you even take that chance?
Anyway, more than anything, I wanted to point out that a legitimate blogger linked to my blog. Way cool.
Go USA!
No comments:
Post a Comment