CAMRA bans discriminatory beers at GBBF
This continues a CAMRA policy launched last year and follows a YouGov survey that found almost seven in 10 (68%) of female drinkers who expressed an opinion would be unlikely to buy a beer if they saw an advert for it they considered to be sexist.
CAMRA said the findings suggest British women are actively boycotting products reflecting out of date and discriminatory attitudes and images associated with the beer industry.
Important role
All of the beers, ciders and perries at this year’s GBBF, which is taking place this week (6-10 August) at London’s Olympia, have been checked to ensure they adhere to the consumer organisation’s charter and code of conduct.
The festival also chose LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall as its charity of choice and will be collecting proceeds in support throughout the week.
CAMRA national director Abigail Newton said: “Consumer organisations like CAMRA have an important role to play in making women feel more welcomed within the beer world.
“We have already been refusing to stock sexist beers at GBBF for several years now but this is the first time we have made such a bold statement.”
Encourage female drinkers
She added: “It is hard to understand why some brewers would actively choose to alienate the vast majority of their potential customers with material likely to only appeal to a tiny and shrinking percentage.
“We need to do more to encourage female beer drinkers, which are currently only 17% (according to The Gender Pint Gap from Dea Latis) of the population, despite the fact they make up more than 50% of the potential market.
“Beer is not a man’s drink or a woman’s drink, it is a drink for everyone. There is a huge amount of work that needs to be done to overcome outdated stereotypes.”
