Beer pumps in Britain’s pubs have been slammed for carrying sexist images of women (pictured)
Beer pumps in Britain’s pubs have been slammed for carrying sexist images of women.
Campaigners claim ales and lagers which use saucy designs should be banned from prestigious festivals and competitions.
Clip-on signs are found on pumps which are used to pull pints in pubs in order to give the name and the alcoholic content of the brand.
But some are using them to become ever more risque, as well as using similar image on the labels found on bottles.
This includes scantily clad pin-ups or provocative poses in a clear attempt to use ‘boobs for branding’ and to aim the beers solely at male drinkers, said one of the country’s few female head brewers, Jaega Wise of beermaker Wild Card.
Speaking at the industry’s Brewers Congress in London, she said she wanted to survey female drinkers to see what was and was not acceptable.
She also called for a code of practice to be implemented and a ban on ‘beers with sexist imagery and branding from festival competitions’.
She added: ‘I think this would quite quickly stop some of the smaller breweries from deciding to have branding with some boobs on the front.’
Women’s groups recently highlight two lager brands accused of sexist imagery – Dublin Blonde from Dublin-based brewers Irishtown and the provocatively named Deep Throat from Italian brewers Deep Beer.
The first has a picture of a 50s-style blonde woman and the latter has a drawing of a woman eating a corn cob in a suggestive way.
Ms Wise said: ‘The industry is slow to change and there is not a huge amount of movement that has been made. We are hearing lots of bloggers and press talking about the issue of sexism but I would like to see some meaningful change from the industry itself.’
Campaigners say scantily clad pin-ups or provocative poses are a clear attempt to use ‘boobs for branding’ and to aim the beers solely at male drinkers
She said that out of 110 breweries in London alone, just four had female head brewers.
This comes as the numbers of breweries explode thanks to small, hipster-style microbreweries cashing in on the craft beer boom.
Explaining why they use a picture of a sexy woman on their Dublin Blonde lager, brewer Irishtown said: ‘Well it all started when we looked at where the term “Session beer” came from.
‘Before the health and safety brigade had their way workers were allowed two drinking “Sessions” during their working day. This called for a lower alcohol pint, allowing workers to drink more than one beer without getting too messy.
‘The fact that this law remained in place from 1918 to 1988 is astounding. The vintage girls on your beer are a little reminder of how our beers taste but also how things used to be.’
The owners of another controversial beer, Italian made Deep Throat, said a picture of a girl in a provocative pose was merely eating a corn cob because that was a local ingredient for their beer and that no one in Italy had ever complained.
Campaigners claim ales and lagers which use saucy designs should be banned from prestigious festivals and competitions