Dirty Blonde beer sexist, but I'll have one anyway

It seems that Dirty Blonde beer is a bit like the Don Cherry and cilantro: polarizing.

People are either shocked and appalled by the misogyny of the Dirty Blonde marketing campaign or they are shocked and appalled that people are offended.

And never the twain shall meet.

We are living in an age of polarization.

So let’s try to pull this one apart, shall we?

Dirty Blonde is a “light, crisp, effervescent, and quenching” beer according to its maker, Nine Locks Brewery. It is made in Dartmouth at a brewery where they make other beers with unusual names.

Nine Locks came up with a clever marketing campaign that plays on the words Dirty Blonde.

“Everyone likes a Dirty Blonde from Dartmouth,” says the T-shirt.

“Blondes have more fun,” says the online ad.

It doesn’t take a PhD in English literature to get the double entendre there.

On the surface of things, they are, of course, talking about the beer that is blond in colour. (Did you see what I just did right there? I used the spelling that refers to a male, not a female — which is blonde with an e. I’ve seen beer called both blond and blonde. Nine Locks is using the female spelling.)

Some people might recall a 1950s advertising campaign by Clairol in which they ask, “Do blondes have more fun?” The idea was to liberate the woman who colours her hair from the days when bleached blond hair was considered dumb and morally dubious.

Clairol wanted to reframe blond hair as something that is fun and attractive to males. They were selling sex to move their product.

Nine Locks is tapping into that rich history of sexist advertising with its Dirty Blonde marketing campaign. Anyone who says it’s about beer — and beer only — is missing the point.

Nine Locks isn’t the first company to use sex to sell a product.

So the question is: Should we be offended?

Well, I’ve been known to have a Dirty Blonde with my squash league on Wednesday nights. I like it, even with the knowledge of the double entendre. So I guess I’m not terribly offended.

But I get the critique. And I think it’s fair.

If I happened to be a female server with blond hair working in a bar where creepy men are getting boozed up and dropping sexualized comments about Dirty Blondes, I might find it tiresome. I would probably be offended if someone asked if I come with the Dirty Blonde.

A number of craft brewers have written a letter to Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia complaining the campaign is sexist. They feel it reflects poorly on the craft brewers industry.

Nine Locks has stopped the Dirty Blonde marketing campaign, but it won’t change the name of the beer. Supporters are pushing back with a petition that claims that the complaints are motivated by self-interest of competitors.

So where does that leave us? Do we keep drinking a beer that used a marketing campaign that taps into sexism to sell beer?

I’m glad the issue has come out into the open and Nine Locks has stopped its marketing campaign. You can come down on one side or the other, but at least this issue is on the table now.

It’s not a ridiculous thing. I’ll probably keep imbibing a Dirty Blonde with my squash buddies on Wednesday nights. And I’m pretty sure there will be conversation about this topic.