The Big Drink Rethink

Ep 60: The Gendered World of Alcohol Marketing

The Big Drink Rethink

Published: 6 March 2025 at 02:30 Europe/London

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Episode notes

Have you ever considered how deeply ingrained the culture of alcohol marketing is in your life? Today your host, Anna explores the fascinating world of gendered alcohol marketing, alongside guest expert, Professor Carol Emslie, the co-director of the Research Centre for Health at Glasgow Caledonian University and co-chair of the Scottish Alcohol Research Network.

They discuss the intriguing and often controversial world of alcohol marketing, and its societal impact. They look at how it is carefully crafted and targeted towards different genders. From the lucrative realm of pink drinks to sponsorships in sports, discover the profound effects of market dynamics on our perceptions and drinking behaviors. Don't miss this enlightening discussion.

Here are the highlights:

00:00 Introduction

04:29 Research on alcohol aims to inform policies to reduce harm.

06:52 The emergence of marketing alcohol to women.

11:49 Brands align with causes like International Women's Day.

14:42 Alcohol advertising subtly influences everyone.

17:14 Women navigate identity through their drink choices.

21:25 Brands aim to emotionally resonate with consumers.

28:15 Women (particularly mothers) associate alcohol with taking a timeout.

33:24 Alcohol references are frequent in Six Nations rugby matches.

40:43 Challenge societal views on alcohol by increasing awareness of pervasive marketing and ingrained beliefs.

44:22 #DontPinkMyDrink campaign to highlight how alcohol advertisers cynically target women.

To further explore your relationship with alcohol, check out Anna’s programme, The Big Drink Rethink Experiment: https://www.thebeliefscoach.com/the-big-drink-rethink-experiment

For the free resources accompanying this series, please head to https://www.thebeliefscoach.com/registration

If you’re loving the podcast and would like to give Anna a warm, fuzzy feeling of appreciation, then you can buy her a coffee:

https://buymeacoffee.com/bigdrinkrethink

About the host Anna:

Anna is a certified Alcohol Mindset Coach, trained by Annie Grace of This Naked Mind. Drawing on her own journey out of alcohol addiction, she now helps others explore and control their drinking. With a career spanning 25 years as a Strategist in the Advertising industry, she combines her own lived experiences, with great insight into what makes us tick and what influences us to behave the way we do.

Connect with Anna:

Website: thebeliefscoach.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annadonaghey

Instagram: instagram.com/bigdrinkrethink

Produced by winteraudio.co.uk

About Professor Carol Emslie

Professor Carol Emslie is co-Director of the Research Centre for Health at Glasgow Caledonian University and is co-Chair of the Scottish Alcohol Research Network. Her applied research aims to understand the social context of drinking and explore ways to reduce alcohol harm. She has been interviewed by BBC Panorama, BBC Radio’s Women’s Hour, BBC Alba’s Eorpa, the Guardian and the New York Times and has presented her research at the Scottish Parliament.

She has an international reputation for research on gender and alcohol and launched the #dontpinkmydrink social media campaign to highlight alcohol marketing to women. Recent work includes a WHO report on gender and alcohol, studies of drinking and alcohol marketing in LGBTQ+ communities, and ‘sober curiosity’ among sexual minority women.

She leads Glasgow Caledonian’s Crucible programme for early-career researchers. This aims to develop leaders of the future who can communicate their research to the media, practitioners and policymakers and who are committed to working with partners to deliver positive social change.

Find out more: https://www.gcu.ac.uk/staff/carolemslie

Co-Director: Research Centre for Health

Co-Lead: Substance use research

Co-Chair: Scottish Alcohol Research Network

Links to work by Prof Carol Emslie (Glasgow Caledonian

University):

BBC 1 PANORAMA Nov 2024 (Binge Drinking and me – Hazel

Martin https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0025fyj

Alcohol-related deaths from liver disease among women under 40 have

risen sharply over the last decade – but why?

BLOG How alcohol companies are using International Women’s Day to sell more drinks to

women