Pink IPA: BrewDog takes aim at the gender pay gap with a “Beer for Girls”

Independent craft brewer BrewDog is taking on the global scourge of gender pay inequality and combating sexist marketing with the launch of a “new” beer: Pink IPA.

Satirically dubbed Beer for Girls, Pink IPA is BrewDog’s clarion call to close the gender pay gap in the UK and around the world and to expose sexist marketing to women, particularly within the beer industry.

BrewDog will be using its most iconic beer, Punk IPA, as a weapon in this fight, packaging it in lurid pink and renaming to Pink IPA – a send-up of the lazy marketing efforts targeting the female market.

The brewer will also be serving the beer at 20% cheaper in BrewDog bars to those who identify as women. With the product being identical to the blue-branded Punk IPA, the brewer intends to trigger questions about why women continue to earn less than their male counterparts, and offer them a discount on the beer equivalent to the gender pay gap.

Furthermore, for four weeks from today, BrewDog will be donating 20% (the gender pay gap in the UK)[1] of its proceeds from bottled Pink IPA and Punk IPA to causes that fight against gender inequality. Pink IPA will also be sold in South Korea, Ireland, Germany, USA and The Netherlands.

Sarah Warman, BrewDog’s Global Head of Marketing, commented:

“The fact that the gender pay gap is still an issue in 2018 shows that a lot of lip service is being paid, but not enough action is being taken to tackle inequality. We want to accelerate change by empowering more women to make their voices heard and calling out industries and employees that need to do more. With Pink IPA, we are making a statement the only way we know how – with beer.”

“Women make up a small but growing percentage of my peers within the beer industry, and with Pink IPA we are hoping to welcome more people who identify as female into craft beer. It’s an incredible industry to be a part of, and the more women we can get working behind the bar, the more women we can hope to see the other side of it.”

Tanisha Robinson, CEO of BrewDog USA added:

“The beer industry has a duty to be representative of the people who drink beer. In practice, this means actively working toward inclusive work environments, rejecting sexist marketing and fighting societal stereotypes that push women away from spaces where beer is enjoyed. Pink IPA is our rallying call to brewers and beer fans to rise to the challenge and change the image of beer, forever.”

Fixing a broken system

BrewDog is also using the Pink IPA campaign to call for clear and consistent reporting around calculating the gender pay gap and what businesses should do to close it. In the spirit of transparency, BrewDog has disclosed a 2.8% median gender pay gap in favour of men across its global business.

Allison Green, BrewDog’s People Director added:

“The confusion over the best method of calculating the pay gap contributes to the continued indifference to closing it. More should be done to contextualise this complex topic and inform the public about active measures to achieve equality.

At BrewDog we are committed to a workplace free from inequality of any sort. We believe true parity can only come about through transparency and an unshakable determination to resist and reject the status quo. We urge other employers to take active and comprehensive measures to make their businesses representative of the world around us and celebrate our differences whilst ensuring we champion equality – for all roles at all levels.”

BrewDog cofounder James Watt added: “Anything that promotes division, exclusion or elitism is antithetical to what we stand for at BrewDog and what we believe beer should be about. We exist to break down walls – physical and invisible – that prevent people from following their passions and enjoying great beer.”

BrewDog’s approach to tackling the gender pay gap acknowledges the root causes of the widespread underrepresentation of women in certain industries, particularly in science, technology, education and maths (STEM). As such, the brewery’s donations will go to causes that address current gender disparities and also seek to boost the number of young girls interested in a future in STEM industries. As the UK’s fastest growing craft brewer, BrewDog is particularly interested and invested in developing a new wave of diversity in brewing.

Proceeds from Pink IPA will be going to:

• The Women’s Engineering Society (WES) a charity and a professional network of women engineers, scientists and technologists that inspire and support girls and women to achieve their potential as engineers, applied scientists and technical leaders. http://www.wes.org.uk/
• 9to5 is one of the largest, most respected national membership organizations of working women in the U.S. dedicated to putting working women’s issues on the public agenda. 9to5’s mission is to build a movement to achieve economic justice by engaging directly with affected women to improve working conditions. https://donate.9to5.org/

Telling our stories

As part of the Pink IPA campaign, BrewDog has launched brewdog.com/pink which provides information on the gender pay gap in different countries, as well as a video featuring women from the business, and detail on the charities that Pink IPA will support.

Sarah Warman continued:

“Sexism in the beer industry is rife. We can no longer ignore that its existence prevents plenty of incredible women joining our eclectic and exciting industry. There is a long history of products that pander and patronise through harmful, sexist stereotypes and vulgar imagery, and we’re rallying to put an end to this nonsense. The love of beer is not gendered. Beer is universal. Beer is for everyone.”

— ENDS —

About BrewDog plc

Since 2007 BrewDog has been on a mission to make other people as passionate about great craft beer as we are. From the Headliner series, which includes bold, uncompromising pack leaders like the flagship Punk IPA, to the Amplified range (beer, but turned up to 11), BrewDog creates beer that blows people’s minds and has kick-started a revolution.

Cofounders James Watt and Martin Dickie shook up the business world in 2010 with the launch of pioneering crowdfunding initiative Equity for Punks, an initiative that has seen the company raise £53m over five rounds, taking more money through online equity crowdfunding than any other on record. The funds, and the army of punk shareholders (72,000) has enabled the Scottish craft brewery to scale up without selling out.

With 50 global bar launches, export into 55 countries, and a brewery in Ohio that launched in 2017, BrewDog continues to take the craft beer revolution stratospheric, whilst continuing to push the boundaries, invest in people, put the beer first, and champion other small breweries in its venues.

For more information, please contact:

Julian Obubo & Elly Barham-Marsh

t: 0203 1379 270

e: brewdog@manifest.london

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/news/gender-pay-gap-uk-women-earn-208-less-men_en