Activating its UEFA Champions League rights around the final in Milan, Heineken in Brazil took-on gender stereotypes through a spot called ‘The Cliché’.
The campaign tackles a pervasive gender stereotype head-on in a three-minute social spot that starts out a week before the big game by posing a question to unsuspecting male football fans: ‘What if you had the perfect excuse to watch the match without your girlfriend?’.
The narrative sees a mixed group out for dinner in São Paulo and the men’s menus include a card with an enticing proposition: ‘Would you like to be free to watch the UEFA Champions League Final at a Heineken party? Gift your lady a weekend at this spa.’
The card comes with a genuine voucher for the aforementioned spa.
The creative then sees each of the men find a dishonest way to suggest the proposition to his girlfriend: one even cheekily claimed to have bought her a gift after plenty of research and thought.
As ever with such Heineken spoof spots, this is no simple giveaway and the stunt has a twist: when the blokes arrive at the UEFA Champions League Final Heineken party they are in for a surprise.
The online film was initially posted on YouTube and was also amplified across the beer brand’s other social sites.
What if you had the perfect excuse to see the UEFA Champions League Final without your girlfriend? See what happens. https://t.co/5uQ4IHnN2K
— Heineken (@Heineken) June 7, 2016
As the ad continues, the guys head to the event and celebrate their deceitful caper under a #ChampionTheMatch banner by clinking glasses.
But the twist ending finds that their female partners are also at the game and the film closes with an endline message: ‘Have you ever considered that she might like football as much as much as you do?’
And yet, despite being tricked and betrayed, the girlfriends tell their deceiving partners to look under their seats – where they find tickets to Champions League 2017 for all of them to go together.
The campaign was created for Heineken by agency Publicis Brazil, with production by Hungry Man and Efecktor and sound by Jamute.
Comment
Rewarding sexist deceit? Is this really the right message?
Those familiar with Heineken current activation strategy won’t be that surprised by the twist.
After all, the setup runs along similar lines as previous Heineken/Publicis’ soccer sponsorship prankvertising stunts such as ‘The Dilemma’ (see case study).
But nevertheless, the approach is intriguing and the message valid.
It is also an approach needed for Heineken in Brazil, after all, this gender role reversal continues Heineken’s attempts to address some of the sexist criticism levelled at the brand for its 2014 ‘Shoe Sales’ Champions League initiative in Brazil (see case study).
And with more than 3.5m views to date on the brand’s own official Brazilian YouTube channels it certainly has generated plenty of interest and engagement.
Links
Heineken YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/heineken
Heineken Twitter:
Heineken Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/Heineken/
Heineken Tumblr:
http://heineken-agegate.tumblr.com/#heineken/
Heineken Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/heineken/
UEFA Champions League:
