Beers and Broads
- I'll Have Another.
by Ivette Ricco, President
of Femmefan.com
Back in May of 2001 I wrote a story
about beer and broads.
It was perhaps my most popular story and men as
well as women enjoyed debating the topic.
Two
years later, women, and more specifically, young,
female, sports fans, are the object of the beer
industry's affection. I felt it was time to review
what has happened in the last two years.
Light beers continue to lead the way in popularity.
I had never seen as many new commercials for beer
or it's derivatives as I saw last year.
The (previous ads) have only one note-worthy addition,
the Heineken spot where the neglected male date,
maintains his composure as he is neglected and abused
by his date, that is, until she pours his Heineken
into her glass.
Other note-worthy beverages targeted for the young
market are the ale beverages with interesting names
such as Lemon-Hard, Zima, and Ice, all ale-products
in hard liquor clothing.
And now most recently Michelob has a new brew,
Michelob Ultra, a whole new family of brew. Remember
the infamous beer belly, well this brew is going
to let you get hammered and keep your girlish figure
too.
With 2.9 grams of carbs, Michelob Ultra, is slimmed
down from the usual 7 grams of carbs in a regular
beer to 5 grams in Ultra.
Dave Peacock, a vice president for the St. Louis
based brewer says, "If you're drinking Michelob
Ultra, your traditional six-pack's going to look
a little better."
"As we've seen carbohydrate consciousness
increases in consumers, we realized there's a place
for this." He added. "For people who work
out or are trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle,
we thought this made sense."
The new lager packs 96 calories per 12 ounces,
with 4.1 percent alcohol content, roughly the same
as a light beer and less than 150 calories and 5
percent alcohol than its regular brethren. The process
was developed over 18 months by Michelob brewmeisters,
cooks the beer's grain mash three times its normal
cycle. "What's great about it is the process
we used," Peacock said. "It breaks down
the carbs, but doesn't get rid of the taste."
So where does all this attention get us, the female
sports fan that enjoys a beer, or two while enjoying
the game?
Is the beer industry targeting the young male with
the six-pack abs and sweaty torso?
Or is the beer industry targeting the weight conscious
female market?
Or is the beer industry going for the whole "health"
conscious, weight conscious, image conscious market?
My guess is they are going for it all, and we've
not come all that much further - baby.
Here is the original article as it appeared on
Femmefan.com in 2000.
Ivette Ricco
President, Femmefan.com
May 20, 2001
We've Come A Long Way Baby!
Picture this, the year is 1970, two women are sitting
at a bar, they spot a nice looking man bellying-up
to the bar. They exchange glances and tell the bartender
they want to buy him a drink.
Sound plausible? In the year 2001 yes, in 1970,
hell no.
Miller Lite has an ad running nationwide that features
two young women sitting at a bar.
They spot a nice looking young man and tell the
bartender they're buying a Miller Lite for him.
The bartender gives the guy the beer, and then the
women spot a "great" looking guy sitting
at a table. They have the bartender yank the beer
from the nice looking guy and give it to the second,
"great" looking guy. Then, another equally
stud-like creature sits next to the great looking
guy. The women say, wow there's two of them. But,
just as quickly the second stud places his hand
gently over the first "great" looking
guy's hand.
The women comment, well at least we know he's
not married.
So, how many stereotypes and taboos did Miller Lite
destroy with this ad?
So, you say, what does this have to do with sports
and Femmefan.com?
Come on, sports, beer, babes, sex. Sports the
last male sanctuary has had to let in the female
fan, and now, gadzooks, the male is being treated
like so much fresh meat!
Femmefans want a little piece of the action, how
about some of that ad revenue for the women fans?
How about a little TLC for those ladies who spend
their hard earned dollars, or their significant
others dollars, on season tickets, over-sized team
apparel, seven dollar stadium brew and foot-long
wieners.
Beer manufacturers are starting to take a serious
look at the female brew drinker. No longer just
the drink men favor, women have been increasing
their beer consumption.
The problem for beer manufacturers and their ad
agencies is how to market this traditional male
beverage to the young and affluent female market.
Are calories a primary consideration? What about
health, and looks? How important is sex, the ever-present
subliminal message in almost every beverage sold
on the planet, including even the seemingly benign,
milk.
Sex sells, and beautiful people sell, how does
the female drinker reconcile the brew image and
mentality, how does beer drinking translate into
being sexy and feminine?
Beers names we all recognize, Budweiser, Miller,
Coors and Guinness don't exactly inspire thoughts
of slinky bodies. Nor do they conjure up alluring
romantic moonlit moments, or sleek waif like body
images.
So then, why are women drinking beer?
More importantly how do beer manufacturers and the
ad agencies target them?
Listen up Mr. BeerMeister; Femmefan is going to
help you out:
Think lite, think buddy, think gal-pal, think sports,
think hot, think cool, think sweat, think sexy,
think warm, think friendly, and think fun.
Sales of beer in the US in 1999, for at home consumption,
totaled $63.3 billion. Holy Burp! How many carbs
is that?
Light beer accounted for one-third of the market
in 1990. By the year 2013 the beer industry is projecting
that light beer will account for half the beer market,
almost directly attributable to the increase in
beer consumption by women.
Women currently account for 25 percent of total
beer consumption.
Twice as many men drink beer as compared to women,
37 million men as opposed to 17 million women. Damn
that's why these guys are so full of it.
In addition, women drink half as much: 11.3 servings
monthly versus 22.8 for men. But, women drink 15%
more low-calorie beer then regular domestic or imported
beer.
According to Anheuser-Busch, they have identified
five critical concerns that need to be addressed
in order to bring more women into the beer market.
- Palate- make it slightly sweeter
and with less aftertaste. How do you do that?
- Effect- go for less gassiness
and bloating. Absolutely.
- Alcohol level- offer more
choices. Let's have choices on how fast we get
plastered.
- Image- make it seem more elegant
and sophisticated. Now, there's a concept.
- Alternative- address wine's
healthier and low-calorie image. Without a doubt
America's obsession.
Beware- research shows that women don't want "chick
beer" in pink bottles. None of that "sissy"
beer for us gals.
On the national marketing front, makers and sellers
of beer are paying more attention to the diverse
drinking population. The nation's overwhelming preference
for light beer is at the forefront of the diversity,
specifically the female market.
The ad cliché "Beer & Babes"
has new meaning in this 63 billion dollar beer business.
Typical beer commercials are designed to get the
young male's attention. This has been accomplished
by use of humor, sex, and more humor and more sex.
The female was used as a means of getting the guys
attention; do you remember the "Swedish Bikini
Team"?
Now we have a new generation of women, women who
enjoy a pint or two.
Amstel Light, the USA's best-selling imported light
beer has been running a commercial that shows a
woman opening a bottle with her teeth and spitting
the cap across the bar.
In another spot a woman uses a rival beer to water
her flowers.
In yet another commercial we see two women at a
bar scooping out hot guys and buying them beers.
Foster's shows a young couple on a date at a swanky
Sydney, Australia restaurant, where the guy is very
impressed when the woman crunches the empty Foster's
can against her forehead.
The Budweiser "Whassup?! Crew faces a "Girl
Invasion" in a new spot.
So then what does the female beer drinker really
want?
To be the male equivalent of a fat, goofy, beer
belly guy? Not!
Women drink beer because it is easy, convenient,
refreshing and levels the social playing field.
Men may reject the dainty wine-look, the sweet pink
daiquiri and even the margarita, for the more macho
beer. Women like the security of recognizing a brand
name and knowing they can hang with the men without
competing.
Beer manufacturers need to show women who are attractive,
friends, pals, in a casual setting (sporting events
works here) where the male and female meeting is
not expected to result in a one-night stand.
"Brewers have been reluctant to market to
women for fear of alienating their core audience:
men," says Benj Steinman, president of Beer
Marketer's Insights. "But beer consumption
among women is growing. And they like light beer."
In a male dominated market, there is one beer,
Oregon-brewed Babe Beer that has caused controversy.
It's labeling may pit the male beer drinker against
the female beer drinker. Babe Beer's peel-off labels
on each bottle feature a photo of robust young women
donned in scanty outfits and sporting million-dollar
smiles.
I say, let's get some Stud Beer with rip off labels
that show a lot of muscle as the bottle glistens
and sweats. Yeah, now that's the ticket!
We've come a long way Baby!
