Apparently Birell know what it means to be a man, and have decided to educate us ignorant masses on exactly what that is. “Estargel” (be a man) is the direction Leo Burnett Cairo have taken in their new Birell campaign. Birell is a non-alcoholic malt beverage produced by Al-Ahram Beverages Company.
You know what? I’m not going to discuss the blatant idiotic sexism of these ads, because well, it would be a waste of my breath and an insult to your intelligence. This is because the most prominent TV ad for the drink proceedes as follows: a few guys hanging out, a gorgeous woman passes by, recognizes one of them and makes eye contact. The rest look at him enviously and he explains that he likes her personality. We are then told that a woman’s personality is the last thing that should be noticed, drink Birell and be a man. Not like that idiot who, heaven forbid, is actually taking a girl’s personality into consideration.
So the way to be a man is to demean women, belittle somene else so you can feel bigger. Yeah real manly. Oh and just to be unbiased I also sought out male opinions on this campaign. Result: yes ad was shot nicely, was visually appealing etc, but revolting all the same. The entire direction was in very poor taste. And before you say anything don’t give me that market insight bullshit, because it was a cheap shot and a clear underestimation of the audience.
Want to be a man? Don’t let an ad dictate what masculinity is and go drink a real beer… In the meantime stop polluting media outlets with elementary crap that not even a perverted teenager with an inferiority complex would dream of coming up with..