Sunday, May 17, 2015

Leg Spreader's notoriety spreads all the way to Great Britain.

A quantum leap in tasteful positioning?

The second generation Leg Spreader label (the Feds can be astutely discerning) has traveled the electronic superhighway all the way to Great Britain, where a contributor to The Telegraph takes issue with it and other "Neanderthal beer adverts," thus using one of our own Indiana "craft" beers as an example.

It has even made an international "cringeworthy" list.


Fancy a pint of 'leg spreader'? Neanderthal beer adverts leave me frothing, by Claire Cohen

 ... British beer expert Melissa Cole agrees that the industry has a woman problem.

She recently told the Telegraph: “There are still too many people in the beer community who seem totally fine with either appalling sexism or flat-out offensiveness.

“We don’t much like being metaphorically patted on the a--- by the marketers.”


Frequent readers will be feeling a sense of Yogi Berra's déjà vu all over again, but before listing the links to my various rants, permit this acknowledgement of complicity.

Speaking for myself, I'm still troubled by my own brewery's continued use of the word "naughty" (girl) as part of a beer name, though not by the image of a mermaid that we use. I'd like to think that since we first began using the name a few years back, consciousness has expanded overall, and we've all learned more about sexism and diversity.

I'd like to see us change the name, though at this precise juncture, with me taking a leave of absence to run for mayor, I have precious little to do with my own business (and am being remunerated accordingly, alas). In this as with so many other matters, we do what we can, as we are able. I will, when I can.

In the interim, I'm serious about learning more about these issues, and presenting the findings to the Brewers of Indiana Guild. But I'm going to be blunt: It's really hard to put a positive spin on Leg Spreader, and it's really not something for Indiana beer to be proud of -- is it?

January 9

"Craft Brewers Are Running Out Of Names," clever or otherwise.


January 19:

The PC: Ripped straight from the pages of an Onion satire: “13 white males not really so eager to discuss issues like racism and sexism.”


January 27

Brewers of Indiana Guild: "We obviously don’t condone sexism or racism."


Feb 16

The PC: On barrelage, Dean Smith and diversity studies.


March 24

"Does craft beer have a sexism problem?"


May 5

Rants, bar fights and strip clubs. Maybe it's time to become a wine drinker.

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