Amy Haneline

amy.haneline@indystar.com

“Sex sells” is a phrase often used in advertising. But are craft breweries taking the tactic too far?

John Holl, editor of All About Beer Magazine, thinks so. His recent column asking breweries to stop what he calls offensive, sexist branding has been shared widely on social media by brewers and brewery owners. He cites Panty Peeler Belgian-style Trippel from Midnight Sun Brewing Co. in Anchorage, Alaska, and Once You Go ... Black IPA from Lynnwood Brewing in Raleigh, N.C.

As discussion erupted, Indiana examples surfaced, as well.

Lowell’s Route 2 Brewery makes Leg Spreader ESB and Stacked Double IPA. Gary’s 18th Street Brewery brews Sex and Candy IPA. New Albany’s New Albanian Brewing Co. sells Naughty Girl Belgian Blonde Ale.

Critics argue that the highly sexualized branding objectifies women and promotes a culture of rape and sexual harassment. But others in the brewing industry say the edgy, artistic marketing makes beers stand out and people are too sensitive.

“Sexy is fine. Sexy is great. And it goes both ways. There are sexy dudes," Holl said. "But when it starts to verge into pinup versus pin her down, that’s where the line is.”

“It’s just a name”

Route 2 Brewery has a menu of beers with suggestive names and labels.

The small brewpub's Stacked double IPA label features an illustration of a well-endowed woman wearing only a pair of underwear. The label of its Leg Spreader ESB shows a large-chested woman sitting with the brewery's logo between her spread legs.

The marketing and sales director for Route 2 Brewery, who asked to not be identified for this story, comes up with the names and approves the artwork.

"Stacked" is stacked with hops, she explained. A female artist drew the illustration. Leg Spreader stems from a couple's conversation, sexual in nature, she overheard in a store.

Liquor store shelves are crowded. The labels are meant to stand out. They aren’t meant to offend anybody, attack anybody or imply anything, she said.

“It’s just a name," she said. "Probably for every one person that has something to say about it, 100 other people are like, ‘I’ve got to try that beer. With a label and a name like that, that beer has got to be good.’"

Pinups and pilsners

Women have long been used in beer advertising, from the Rheingold beer girls of the '40s and '50s to the pinup era of the '50s and '60s to the bikini-clad women of commercials today ("Find your beach," Corona tells us).

The marketing approach goes back to male-dominated saloons and taverns, said John Ferguson, president of the National Association Breweriana Advertising. Women generally were not a part of the drinking scene until after Prohibition, so much of the early brewery advertising was targeted to men.

“Some of the pictures were rather risqué,” Ferguson said. “The women were busty and revealing. … You could go into a tavern and sit around with the guys and look at the women lithographs.”

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After Prohibition was repealed, the beer industry sought to improve its public image, said Lisa Jacobson, a professor at the University of California Santa Barbara who has studied 20th century alcohol advertising.

A campaign by the United States Brewers Foundation from the '40s to the early '60s sought to distance itself from the saloon, she said. Beer was portrayed as a product for both men and women to enjoy in a more wholesome, domestic setting.

Eventually the campaign was abandoned, Jacobson said, perhaps because the industry believed it's reputation was repaired or because the approach was “making beer too genteel, and it wasn’t getting them the rewards they were hoping for.”

Brewers turned their attention back to men and the working class.

Men still drink more beer than women do, and companies still use sex to sell beer. Sometimes the approach draws controversy. Bud Light’s 2015 “Up for Whatever” campaign was criticized for its tagline: “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night.” Critics saw the message as an endorsement for date rape.

The wrong message?

Suggestive beer names and labels objectify women, promote victim-blaming and connect to rape culture, said Kate Gasiorowski, the rape prevention and education coordinator for the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She is leading a statewide effort called Raise the Bar to train bar staff in identifying and safely responding to possible sexual assault situations.

There is a difference between laughing at and laughing with, she said. With labels that objectify women or any other group, “we have to recognize that those individuals might not think it’s so funny,” she said.

Gasiorowski is a part of Indy Girls Pint Out and enjoys the craft beer scene’s inclusive culture, but she worries this type of marketing behavior could hurt the industry.

“Alcohol is the number one date rape drug. … I think the craft beer industry has an opportunity to step apart from that and be different and make alcohol about artistry, craftsmanship and creativity and not about just getting drunk, certainly not about rape or drug-facilitated sexual assault.”

A beer name on its own may be harmless, but paired with certain imagery, she said, it might cross the line.

What’s obscene?

Beer names and labels get approved through the U.S. Department of Treasury's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. While many of the requirements focus on proper labeling for alcoholic content, the rules do prohibit “any statement, design, device, or representation which is obscene or indecent.”

The problem is that everyone doesn't share the same views on what is obscene or indecent.

Roger Baylor, a former owner of New Albanian Brewing, has written about the issue on his blog Portable Curmudgeon. While serving on the board of the Brewers of Indiana Guild in 2015, he brought Route 2 Brewery’s Leg Spreader to the board's attention.

He thought the name and label might hurt the Guild's efforts in advocating for state and federal laws that help small brewers be successful.

“It’s like that old argument,” he said. “What’s the definition of obscenity? I’ll know it when I see it. It seemed to me that is just obscene.”

However, another board member called Baylor out. New Albanian at the time had a beer called Naughty Girl that featured a mermaid with cleavage on the label.

The illustration is artistic, Baylor said, along the lines of a pinup girl. It didn’t strike him as obscene. But the name, “Naughty Girl,” embarrasses him still today.

“What was I thinking? Well, I know what I was thinking,” he said, recalling how his business was struggling. “I was thinking whatever it takes to sell something because we’re not doing well. And that’s scary because lapsing into that is one reason I’m not doing it anymore.”

New Albanian is now 100 percent female-owned by Baylor’s ex-wife, Amy Baylor, and her sister Kate Lewison. Naughty Girl and its mermaid label is still in the brewery’s lineup.

“I guess I would say sex sells,” Amy Baylor said. “I never really thought of it as sexist. Probably just growing up in the world we live in.”

Finding the line

18th Street Brewery makes an IPA called Sex and Candy. The label’s artwork shows the thighs and midsection of a person wearing lingerie.

In May, Carla Jean Lauter, @beerbabe on Twitter with 19,400 followers, confronted the brewer by calling the label “objectifying.”

“The intent was to pay homage to the song (‘Sex and Candy’) by Marcy Playground," brewery founder Drew Fox said. "It made no mention that it was a woman or a man. People that feel like it is sexist or objectifying, that’s their opinion and we have to respect that opinion.”

He said if enough people find the label offensive, he is not opposed to making a change. Since the May tweet, the company has looked at all of its branding to ensure it isn’t gender specific or offensive, he added.

One brewery that did change is 3 Floyds in Munster. Its Big Tiddy Assassin was listed on Thrillist.com as one of the 13 most sexist names and labels in craft beer. The label showed a salacious, red-headed woman.

The beer has since been retired, said Kaitlyn Hendricks, who manages quality control and public relations for 3 Floyds. The Flemish style red ale was renamed Canus Invertus with the label depicting a demonlike character.

The company wanted all of its labels to be respectful of everyone, Hendricks said.

Business owners are free to do as they please within the law, the Brewers of Indiana Guild wrote in a statement to IndyStar, and this sometimes leads to poor decision making with product names and imagery. The nonprofit trade association represents 100 members in the brewing industry.

“Just as we can't go into breweries and force them to make better beer or brew differently, we can't force them to make better marketing decisions," the statement said. "We can, however, offer educational opportunities and resources to help them do so in the hope that this will eventually change the culture of the industry for the better.”

The Guild noted that the issue goes beyond a single brewery. Wholesalers, retailers and consumers all can influence branding decisions.

“Consumers ultimately have the final say," the Guild said, "and shouldn't underestimate the power that they have in voting with their dollars.”

Call IndyStar reporter Amy Haneline at (317) 444-6281. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @amybhaneline, and on Facebook.