Online backlash as Brewdog launches beer in bid to highlight gender pay gap

Craft brewer BrewDog has faced a backlash after unveiling a newly-branded beer designed to shine a light on the gender pay gap.

The Scottish company claims Pink IPA, a repackaged version of its Punk IPA, is “satirically dubbed 'beer for girls'” and is a send-up of “lazy” marketing efforts to target the female market.

A tweet from the brewery said: “This is not 'beer for girls'. This is beer for equality. Pink IPA has landed.''

The move, however, prompted a number of negative responses on Twitter.

One woman wrote: “This has the right motivations but the wrong execution. You have lots of supportive shareholders who are female scientists & engineers. They could have been involved, collaborated and a simple engagement with those supporters could have given you a much stronger campaign.”

Another Twitter user said: “Pink and 'beer for girls' puts me off not just that beer, but the whole range. Because essentially you're implying the rest of the range isn't for me, even though I despise pink. Poorly thought out for the 21st century. Btw, most of your biggest fans I know are female.”

Another commentator said: “Don't doubt your intentions are good but the execution of this is well off the mark.”

A further tweet from the brewers stated: “We've created a beer for girls. And it's pink. Because women only like pink and glitter, right? #Sarcasm Lets show that enough is enough with stereotypes."