26 Vintage Beer Ads That Are Even More Sexist Than You’d Imagine

Published January 11, 2018

Whether treating women as sex objects or servants, these sexist beer ads of decades past look positively shocking today.

Olands Beer Ads
Schlitz Sexist Beer Ads
Beer Ads Schlitz
Genesee Beer Advert
26 Vintage Beer Ads That Are Even More Sexist Than You’d Imagine
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The beer industry has a long and vexed history of dude-centric advertising. If women even featured in early beer ads, they were typically depicted serving up a cold brew to their hard-working husbands or were simply reduced to objects of the male gaze.

Since then, after a whopping century or so, the frat-house imagery and misogynist subjugation of beer ads seem to finally be losing favor as ad targeting shifts towards a generation of millennial beer-drinkers less likely to tolerate such attitudes.

While we can take solace in the fact that the landscape does show signs of shifting, plenty of modern beer ads still fall woefully short when it comes to attitudes about women. 

In response, Brazilian beer brand Skol recently owned up to its flagrant use of the female form to market their product and decided to do something about it. They hired six female illustrators to redesign their most overtly sexist ads to promote a more respectful message. The campaign provides a glimmer of hope for an industry in desperate need of transformation.

Above, see 26 appallingly sexist beer ads of decades past.


Next, have a look at the most sexist ads as well as the most racist ads of decades past.

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All That's Interesting
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Established in 2010, All That's Interesting brings together a dedicated staff of digital publishing veterans and subject-level experts in history, true crime, and science. From the lesser-known byways of human history to the uncharted corners of the world, we seek out stories that bring our past, present, and future to life. Privately-owned since its founding, All That's Interesting maintains a commitment to unbiased reporting while taking great care in fact-checking and research to ensure that we meet the highest standards of accuracy.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
Based in Brooklyn, New York, John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of expertise include modern American history and the ancient Near East. In an editing career spanning 17 years, he previously served as managing editor of Elmore Magazine in New York City for seven years.