Heineken Campaign Starring Former Footballers Tackles Social Media Sexism
September 22, 2023
Dutch beer brand Heineken is highlighting sexism and gender bias in punditry, football and sport through an ad campaign featuring former English footballers-turned-pundits, Jill Scott MBE and Gary Neville.
In ‘The Social Swap’ co-created by agencies LePub and Edelman, Scott and Neville secretly swapped social media accounts for five days during a few Champions League games last season. They shared their views on matches, from the use of VAR to team rivalries and match predictions, in an experiment to show how people reacted to men versus women sharing their opinions. Ultimately, Scott’s account received five times more sexist responses compared to Neville’s on similar points of view and commentary.
As reported by The Manc, "‘Jill Scott’s’ (Gary Neville’s) tweets received all the usual ‘yer da’ responses: “Get back in the kitchen babe”, “You should probably concentrate on the girls’ league”, “Seems like your brain’s gone missing. Best leave the football to the boys the luv.' and so on...Scott’s match analysis received responses like, 'The most objective opinion I’ve seen from you'."
According to The Social Intelligence Lab, an analysis of media commentary found that nearly 27% of Facebook post comments were negative towards sportswomen compared to 8% of male athletes. Of those, 23% were sexist comments and 20% belittled sporting abilities. Additionally, a female football fan engagement study conducted by Join the Dots InSites Consulting found that female fans didn’t feel confident in their opinion or ‘football voice’, despite being life-long fans and season ticket holders. A survey by Women in Football revealed that two-thirds of women working in football experienced gender discrimination at work and that ‘banter’ is the most-used term to describe the severity of the issue.
“Attitudes have definitely changed but there’s no doubt that female fans, pundits and players still get a lot more online negativity than men due to gender bias. You develop a thick skin – but we shouldn’t have to. Some people have probably been left a little red-faced by this experiment but hopefully, it’s reminded everyone of the need to kick gender bias out of the game for good,” said Scott.
As a result, the brewer and UK tech firm, Arwen, have joined forces to provide an AI-powered moderation tool aimed at protecting sports fans from offensive social media content. The Arwen AI tool tailors content to each individual user as they personalize what they want to see. The AI scores every comment and replies instantly – if found to break a user’s tolerances, it is automatically hidden. The free tool hopes to protect 423 million users globally from online sexism.
“Social media users, regardless of their profile, race, gender or sexual orientation should feel empowered to use their online platforms without receiving toxic abuse,” said Matthew McGrory, CEO and co-founder of Arwen. “We want to help create a positive online environment where people can engage with content without fear of being abused. In short, we want to make social media social again.”
The campaign is Heineken's most recent effort in the gender equality space. It comes alongside recent initiatives including its Fresher Football website that displays men’s and women’s football statistics alongside one another for the first timey. With almost half of football fans being women, its Cheers to All Fans campaign also aims to level the playing field for all supporters by highlighting the diverse landscape of football fans across the world.