What is it with ales/beers and their "hilarious" misogynistic branding?

[Amethyst24]

I can't find a handy link with lots in one place, but so many of them have images of buxom barmaids/page 3-type women and/or frightfully witty names featuring beavers and the like. Why is this a thing? Other drinks don't do it.

Oh, so tempted to type what popped into my head, but I'd be accused of being a right old meany by people who "just don't see it"

You were going to say something about that rogue semicolon, weren't you, Puffins ? Go on, share it with the group.

It's because the target market for beer is men and the advertisers have decided to approach the marketing of it in a hahaha all boys together, male bonding way. Since male bonding often centres around objectification of women, it's one of the obvious (tired, boring) things to go in for.

The dickheads.

The 'lad' culture is still thriving!

The thing is when I go out so many more women seem to drink lager/beer etc than 15/20 years ago.

Why is no one marketing to them?

list of bottled ale names here although possibly not what you where after

We have a workd famous race meet here and as thst is pretty much seen as a male dominated and followed sport the town suddenly has a zillion temporary strip licences!
So it's as was said above, males socialising simply must have to objectify women!
But patronising to men I think!

It's because beer (and particularly real ale) is a proper man's drink. Girls should be drinking stuff like wine or a half of lager and lime, or maybe vodka or a cocktail. Not manly pints.

The fact that I and many other women have been drinking proper beer since we first had alcohol doesn't seem to have registered. (Not that I drink alcohol at all these days.)

Thinks like wine are named after the grape/region, but I bet no one can name a variety of hops or malting barley unless they have been involved in agriculture (there are some good names there - my father used to grow Maris Otter barley.)

Jackie: interesting what you said about marketing to women. I was a real ale/bitter drinker in the 1960s when a woman ordering a pint produced the sort of response you would be likely to get if you suddenly declared to a crowded pub that you were an axe murderer. You could just about get away with a half, so as a pint drinker I used to get a lot of stupid sexist remarks.

Lager was hardly ever drunk until the late 60s but when Heineken first marketed it to the UK it was targeted firmly at women as a "ladies' beer". I've always thought it rather odd that it then became the "yobbo" drink (in the days of football matches turning into mini riots) before it became more widely drunk.

I guess it was its lighter colour, blander taste and lower alcohol content that made brewers think lager was more suitable for "ladies". So it was odd that it was taken up by young men who fancied themselves as "lads" and macho types.

Some real ale names do indeed have awfully sexist names, but I don't think the use of sexist language/imagery to promote alcohol is restricted purely to real ale.

That said, I think more and more women are drinking real ale these days, but I do wonder if the sexist branding and the 'male' (but not necessarily macho) image of it has previously put them off.

Iirc CAMRA were criticised last year re v sexist marketing for recruitment to their young members section

Interesting replies, thanks all. I'm not a beer drinker so although I was aware of it, I didn't realise quite how pervasive it was until I came across a whole load en masse in a work context. It's not even edgy, it just smacks of dirty old men.

I've just looked through Boney's list and can't see why any names that support your discussion.

There are lots of products that have very sexist advertising.

McCoys: 'man crisps'
Yorkies: apparently they aren't 'for girls'

And this energy drink...

Koala, yes, I agree with those examples, but can someone look through the list of several hundreds of beer names and come up with something to support the original op.

From a very brief scroll through a number jumped out at me including "bitch please" and "old slapper on the quayside". Obviously this doesn't include the images and marketing the OP also refers to.

I suspect that much of them are like cocktail names, where part of the "fun" is in having to ask at the bar for a long slow screw against the wall (believe me for bar staff it is less hilarious the second or third time, let alone the 1000000th time)

I think if they have a nude chick or whatever on the beer/ale more men want to buy it because it is hot.

But surely beer is best served cold? with the obvious caveat for the British who tend to enjoy there's lukewarm

So there are three questionable sexist names out of several hundred?

I don't know paxtecum - I have no idea whether that list is the sole piece of evidence that would support or confound the OP's post wrt beer names. I just did what you suggested and looked through the list (albeit briefly) and those names jumped out at me.

I've looked through the list again.
There are three or four questionable names out of hundreds, so that it hardly 'so many' as Amethyst has suggested.

Seems even the Torygraph thinks I have a point.

www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11534956/Sexist-British-beer-names-will-make-you-cringe.html

My personal experience would tally with Amethyst's. Whatever the actual numbers of sexist-named bottled beer in that list, when I have been to beer festivals and real ale pubs there seems to be a higher concentration than that of sexist names associated with the beers. And that list showed only bottled beers, and none of the logos and marketing associated - that telegraph article shows how apparently innocuous names may be associated with sexist imagery

I don't buy McCoys or Yorkies.

It's one of those pointless boycotts like we had a thread on a while back

But I can't bring myself to buy and eat something which says on the back "this is not for you" even if I do like it.

I also wouldn't order a pint of "dim busty slut" or whatever but again I'm teetotal so I doubt the brewing trade is feeling the pain on that one

What is teh food / drink where they have a website and it's a cartoon of a pub and if you click on the barmaid she bends forwards so you can see down her top and winks at you? Can't remember. It might be mccoys as well come to think of it.

Just looked through the telegraph article and 2 of the names/pictures are kinda problematical. If you are selling beer to men, and calling it "leg spreader" or "opportunist" what is it actually saying? How will them drinking it make women more likely to have sex with them? Are they to use it to get the women drunk? What is the implication? Or have they not thought about at all really?