An exploration of the existence of stereotypes and sexism in the UK brewing industry and culture
ALES &
FEMALES
You're barred: Meet the man showing up the pump clips that got it so wrong
No bad marketing
allowed
Credit: Pumpclip Parade
‘Nice rub down.’
The words are boldly emblazoned across the top of a Warwickshire brewery’s pump clip in patriotic red and white, a theme perhaps expected to be found in a good ol' English pub.
The words, and their primary association with sport and exercise, are supported by an image of a sportswoman below.
But because of her untraditional choice of sportswear - a plunging crop top and spray on shorts - the words take on a second, sexual meaning.
This is just one of hundreds of pump clips featured on shaming blog site, Pumpclip Parade.
Its Chamber of Horrors dates back to 2009 when the site was set up, though the one above is only from July this year. And at a time when discussion about sexism and inequality between male and female national teams is rife, this kind of thing really doesn’t help with the problem.
Though, PCP’s founder Jeff Pickthall is very careful about how he identifies his site, denying it is motivated by “anti-sexism.”
"It is about bad marketing," the webpage states.
This is not the first time the industry has come under fire for issues to do with its marketing.
Three years ago, a fruity beer called 'Top Totty' ale was barred from the House of Commons after several female members of the House were said to be "disturbed" by the image of a bunny-eared, bow tie and bikini-wearing blonde that accompanied it.
More recently, Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism project, praised Foster’s top boss for coming to the realisation that the time of women appearing as “the butt of the joke” in adverts is over.
Naturally, Laura’s opinions gave rise to the other side of the debate, which is a side Jeff has definitely felt the wrath of himself.
“The most common criticisms of PCP are variations upon ‘you have no sense of humour,’ ‘political correctness gone mad,’ ‘it’s just a laugh.
“But for me the issue is bad marketing.
“It isn’t political correctness, whatever that is," he says dismissively.
It might be fair to say PCP was also born out of Jeff’s frustration towards the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
From visiting Jeff’s personal blog, his determination to distance himself from the organisation is clear - “I am not, and never have been a member of CAMRA” - as is another factor which could explain the cause of the tension.
Jeff is a previous owner of a specialist craft beer bar in London.
CAMRA and the craft beer industry have become well known for their controversial relationship, from BrewDog being offered then revoked a stall at the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) to chairman Colin Valentine giving craft beer a scathing review - “It may have hops in it, but it is keg” - and blaming bloggers (aka. the people like Jeff) for brewing up such a fuss over the American product.
But this debate mainly seems to have come off badly on CAMRA’s part, picturing them as the “old fogies” trying desperately to fight of the upcoming trends.
For Jeff, the pessimism and resistance have just proven too much to do nothing about.
BrewDog's Sarah Warman weighs in on the fight against 'alienating' pump clips
“It annoys me that the world of ‘real ale,’ specifically not craft beer, pursues a narrative, courtesy of CAMRA, of ‘real ale under threat,’ ‘real ale in danger of dying out’ etcetera,” he reels.
“Yet [CAMRA] does nothing about awful presentation that annoys and alienates
potential customers, many of whom are women.”
The Chamber of Horrors is made up of a combination of his own findings and others submitted by the public. On average Jeff gets around one submission a day but with a lot of pumpclips and a lot of people now scouting them out, he reckons it's more like one new submission per week.
Credit: @Bodie15
One of the more recent submissions to Pumpclip Parade
A&F's 10 of the worst marketing mishaps on PCP
Click to see!
But is it working?
“I know of breweries that have completely rebranded after appearing on Pumpclip Parade, but I have no way of telling if [Pumpclip Parade] influenced the decision.”
To make his point, Jeff told me to look up two breweries, Wold Top Brewery and Hart Brewery, on his site and on their own now to compare.
The change is clear to see.
Wold Top had two entries on two different years for the same lingerie-clad cartoon, but today there is not a ‘Voluptuous Vicky’ in sight.
Similarly with Hart, their ‘Second Coming’ pump clip (one of Jeff’s personal ‘unfavourites’) which consists of one pair of widely spread legs - just legs - and one rather ‘happy’ looking gentleman, has disappeared. Now it seems they’ve opted to use full length images of women instead and, specifically in the case of their ‘Lancashire Best’ ale, historic working women at that.
With the GBBF now underway for its 38th year, it’ll be interesting to see how many - if any - Leg Spreaders or Saucy Susan’s will make an appearance.