The hypocrisy of 'inclusive' beer ads that only sell beer
Beer ads show an idyllic reality with no elderly people or immigrants. When it's time to sell, diversity disappears. An analysis of the double standard.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The selective diversity of beer ads
When a brand wants to sell beer in summer, the people in the ad are always young, white and attractive. The streets look clean, everyone is cheerful and the music is catchy. But a quick look at any neighborhood street festival raises the question: where are the retirees who make up 90% of the real crowd? And the residents of foreign origin?
The recurring criticism of these ads is that they portray a sanitized reality that does not exist. The ads systematically avoid older people, families with young children and the ethnic groups that are indeed part of the urban landscape. Yet when the same brand launches a social responsibility or equality campaign, it suddenly finds room for diversity. The conclusion is obvious: inclusion only matters when it sells a pogre image, not when it's time to depict everyday life.
The debate about representation in advertising is nothing new, but it has a blind spot: the audiences brands consider 'non-aspirational' are systematically left out of consumer ads. The irony is that they then wax lyrical about diversity in their sustainability reports.
When a brand wants to sell beer in summer, the people in the ad are always young, white and attractive. The streets look clean, everyone is cheerful and the music is catchy. But a quick look at any neighborhood street festival raises the question: where are the retirees who make up 90% of the real crowd? And the residents of foreign origin?
The recurring criticism of these ads is that they portray a sanitized reality that does not exist. The ads systematically avoid older people, families with young children and the ethnic groups that are indeed part of the urban landscape. Yet when the same brand launches a social responsibility or equality campaign, it suddenly finds room for diversity. The conclusion is obvious: inclusion only matters when it sells a pogre image, not when it's time to depict everyday life.
The debate about representation in advertising is nothing new, but it has a blind spot: the audiences brands consider 'non-aspirational' are systematically left out of consumer ads. The irony is that they then wax lyrical about diversity in their sustainability reports.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (18 replies).
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