US beer ads to portray women as consumers, not eye candy

New York

FOR years, one of the main criticisms of beer advertising was that it tended to either objectify women or disregard them. Marketers seemed to be too busy trying to appeal to the young male audience they knew would consistently drink beer by the case to worry about anyone else.

Now, that appears to be changing.

Allen Adamson, the former chairman of the brand consulting firm Landor Associates, said that the fraternity house imagery and sophomoric humour that long defined many beer campaigns have come "under siege", led by millennials who are more conscientious about male chauvinism.

With more consumers switching to craft beers - which grew to 10.7 per cent of the dollar share in 2015, according to Nielsen - and beer's already having lost 10 percentage points of its volume…