I sure do enjoy my Stella Artois, but their newest advertisement campaign just doesn’t sit right with me. While I applaud Stella and Matt Damon for helping women get more drinking water, a fundamental need for everyone, it does beg the question, “What about the men in these regions? Are they well off with clean drinking water? Why are these ads only targeting women?”
As a self-proclaimed feminist with admittedly limited knowledge of how to provide clean water to all humans on the entire planet, I do think it’s rather low of Stella to aim their humanitarian efforts to women only. It also feels like a PR stunt due to powerful women (Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Patricia Arquette, Emma Watson) becoming more vocal with their feminist point of views.
Now big corporations are trying to profit off of women’s struggle, and the feminist movement, but they’re not even doing it convincingly.
Feminists aren’t asking for this kind of message. Feminism means equality for everyone. That should mean you should not just buy a lady a drink, Stella, but buy a man one, too. But then again—should we even be buying these clearly able women water at all?
Stella Artois blatantly shows in this advertisement that these women are completely able to get their own drinking water. Why does Stella think they need to #BuyALadyADrink (ugh!) when in their own advertisement, they show ladies getting their own drinks anyway?
Also, thanks for the attempt at chivalry, Matt Damon—but didn’t you get the memo? Chivalry is dead. Women don’t need a knight in shining armor to deliver them Stella chalices filled with water. Women can “buy” their own drinks, thank you very much.
Check out the video for yourself:
A man’s voiceover begins by describing how Stella takes great care with their ingredients: maize, hops, barley, and water.
Photo courtesy of Stella Artois
Water is important to Stella, so they’ve partnered with water.org. Buy a Stella chalice and five years of clean water will go to women in the developing world.
Photo courtesy of Stella Artois
Forget about helping men. Stella Artois/Matt Damon/man voiceover wants to help women. How sweet! (not)
Photo courtesy of Stella Artois
Let’s skip hopping onboard the feminism train next time for the sake of appealing to the increasingly popular feminist audience, and when trying to help, don’t marginalize half of the world’s population.
Photo courtesy of Stella Artois
How about an ad campaign where Stella aims to help providing water to all humans in the developing world?
Feminism doesn’t work by eliminating men. To help make the picture clearer, imagine if this advertisement said that buying one chalice would give five years of clean water to only men in developing countries. There would absolutely be an uproar, and the ad probably would never make it to air—especially during the Academy Awards. Let’s not stand for this, let Stella know what you think.