BrewDog faces online backlash over ‘beer for girls’

‘Pink IPA’ was officially unveiled by the brewery today (6 March), with the aim of highlighting gender pay inequality and supporting women seeking a career – particularly in science, technology, education and maths (STEM).

To highlight the gender pay cap, the beer will be served in BrewDog bars at 20% cheaper to those who identify as women, while the brewery will be donating 20% of its proceeds from bottled Pink IPA and Punk IPA to causes that fight against gender inequality.

However, the beer has received a mixed reaction online, with twitter users commenting on its bright pink label, and tagline ‘beer for girls’.

Mixed reaction

Twitter user Alys Key tweeted: “Ah, I see BrewDog is now that lad from your A-level politics class who makes ‘get back in the kitchen’ jokes but it's OK because he's being ‘ironic’ and is actually a ‘feminist’."

Meanwhile, Jim Waterson described the stunt as “The Yorkie campaign from 2002 but rebranded as woke (socially aware/responsible)”. (The chocolate bar was previously branded with the wrapper tagline ‘It's not for girls’).

Another user urged the company to rethink the beer, and instead take more female brewers on as apprentices.

However, some people on Facebook defended the beer. “People are too easily offended these days. Get a grip and drink more beer... some girls LOVE pink and love beer!!!”, said one.

“The amount of people offended by this is embarrassing. Completely missing the point and probably not even read the article,” added another.

'Tackling inequality with beer'

Speaking about the decision to release the beer, BrewDog’s global head of marketing Sarah Warman said: "We always anticipated that some people might not immediately appreciate the irony of Pink IPA but that did not deter us in our mission to spark a conversation about the gender pay gap.

"Pink IPA is clearly an over-the-top ridiculing of the types of sexist marketing we often see from brands trying to engage a female audience. This beer is part of a bigger campaign that raises awareness of the scourge of the gender pay gap and sexism; two issues we think we should be doing a lot more to solve as a society.

"We're proud to donate proceeds from the beer to The Women's Engineering Society who are doing amazing work at inspiring women to break glass ceilings in the STEM sector."