A Czech beer company has been branded ‘idiotic’ and ‘sexist’ after launching a pink beer marketed specifically for women. “Aurosa is a representation of a woman's strength and a girl’s tenderness,” reads the description on the website. “The two contrasting tempers, present in the female essence, are depicted through the elegant design yet the strong, unfiltered taste.”
The launch was not well received, with social media users slamming the company for patronising marketing based outdated gender stereotypes. The #beerforher hashtag was widely mocked and derided.
The company later defended themselves of Facebook, saying “Beer, wine or any alcohol has no gender. However, the beer industry is largely dominated by men. And culturally, even as more women enter the industry as brewers, pub owners, drinkers, beer can still pretty much feel like a masculine affair.” It added that it had no intention of taking part in “sexism, feminism or the like,” and simply wanted to offer beer in an elegant bottle.
However, despite being marketed as the ‘first beer for her’, Aurosa joins the long line of female-marketed beers that have failed. Molson Coors released Animee in 2011, a fresh-tasting finely filtered pink beer, to follow in the footsteps of Copenhagen, another “girlie” beer. Both products were eventually pulled.
