In August, it was Illinois brewery Pig Minds Brewing Co., who named its blueberry beer PD (short for Panty Dropper) California Style Ale, with a label to match. Outrage ensued on social media and Time Out journalist Amy Cavanaugh wrote a post calling out Pig Minds and a few other breweries and asking them to grow up. Before that, it was Deep Ellum Brewing Co.’s Dallas Blonde beer, paired with the slogan “Goes down easy,” or Massachusetts’s Clown Shoes Beer’s Tramp Stamp controversy, to name a few.
This time, it’s San Diego’s Mother Earth Brew Co. (not to be confused with Mother Earth Brewing in Kinston, North Carolina) who announced their new "Love your Cans, Love your Mother" campaign. The advertisement for the Cali Creamin’ Vanilla Cream Ale features a naked woman holding a carefully positioned six-pack with the slogan “Got cans?” The Facebook photo drew more than sixty comments, ranging from drinkers declaring they would no longer be buying Mother Earth’s beer to commenters telling the offended to just lighten up.
"This ad demonstrates how out-of-touch Mother Earth [Brew Co.] is with their clientele. Women are a growing demographic of consumers in the craft beer industry,” wrote one commenter, Mercedes Alcoser. “We know the difference between an IPA, a stout, and a pale ale. We will gladly spend the $12 you’re going to charge for that six-pack because you produce a quality product. Budweiser and the other beer conglomerates have to use flashy ads to get the public’s attention because their beer is sh*t. Do not succumb to their standards of advertising.”