Gendered Citizen Constructs in Beer Commercials as a Metatext of Alcohol Control Policies

This study examines gender constructs in advertising in European beer commercials (N = 59). It employs a lens of “citizenship” for discerning techniques by which male and female realms are portrayed as nonrelated, competing, and of unequal worth. This lens provides an explanation for why the connotations are problematic from a public health perspective. The citizenship-related tensions that the commercials entailed concerned taking the lead versus being governed, being free versus being controlled, being seen as a threat versus being welcomed as a friend, and being worthy of solidarity versus being excluded from group bonding. The article argues that these tensions not only involve the ethical issue of encouraging the consumption of potentially harmful substances (alcohol) and reproducing repellent gender stereotypes. The controlling, moralizing, and dull female characters are construed as infringing on the knowledgeable, skillful, and free alcohol-consuming male citizens. Gender thus unfolds as a crucial dimension in the mediation of commercial views on the relationship between the consumer and the state in alcohol policy