Beer Ad Pulled in Australia for Implying Male Confidence Boost

A Courage Beer advertisement was pulled in Australia by a British advertising watchdog group for implying that drinking beer could boost a man's self-assurance in dealing with women. The name of the beer is Courage beer.

The poster advertisement for Courage beer has a very nervous looking young man sitting on a sofa with the beer at his feet, and he is looking at his significant other who has her back to him in a very tight form-fitting purple dress and she is asking, "Does my bum look big in this?" There is also a glass of the beer to the right with a pop-up that says "Take Courage My Friend".

The "Take Courage my Friend" slogan has been used by the manufacturer, Well's and Young, in the past for other campaigns. But the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has stated that it received three consumer complaints.

The complaints supposedly center on the implied massage of the beer ad that Courage beer will give men confidence to be negative toward women or that men might be more confident and try to take advantage of women more.

What poor man has not been in the situation where his wife or girlfriend hasn't asked the question, "Does this make my bum look big?" Every woman asks that question at some point in time in a relationship, it is in our genetic makeup to ask that question. I have asked that question. And if you are a woman reading this, then you know that you have asked this question.

And further you and I both know that there is only one correct answer in the universe, "No, of course not, honey. You look great." Any other answer and the man will be sleeping on the sofa or the back porch for months to come.

So if this is such a common situation then what is the issue with this beer ad? As Wells and Young's, the makers of Courage beer stated, "We are very surprised by the ASA's decision regarding our Courage advertisement. The advert depicts a very common situation which our target demographic would relate to and there is certainly no indication that our 'hero' in the advert would say anything 'negative' to his partner or 'take advantage of her'.

Obviously their intention with the Courage beer advertisement was to find humor in the average occurrence that most men will find themselves in at some point in time and that their beer drinkers could relate to.

The ASA further stated that, "while it understood the humorous intention of the advert, it breached advertising guidelines by suggesting that the beer could increase confidence".

So for now the Courage beer ad has been pulled in Australia and Courage beer drinkers will not be seeing this ad at all anymore. But men everywhere will still be answering that age old question, "Does this make my bum look big?" Guys, you know the right answer.

Source:

"Courage beer advertisement banned by British watchdog", News.com.au, 4/16/2009