Facts and fictions about beer, blokes and Belgium

This is one of these Quite Interesting things we've noticed (like the street sign so high up nobody could read it). It's the new Stella ad campaign, which raises interesting questions about what we believe.

Stella has been doing lavish, stylish, French-looking ads for ages. This campaign is very stark by comparison. And very Belgian.

Belgium is not much known about (cf famous Belgians etc), apart from for its (excellent) beer. So Stella is Belgian! Probably not a lot of people knew that.

Except that it isn't. Or not really. Here the facts and the impressions start to get a bit blurred. The brewery was founded in Belgium in 1366, but the beer started in Canada in 1926.

So the 'We' in the headline above is the brewery, not the beer talking.

Companies are not alone in wanting to put out a version of events which favour them, of course. We all do it. We create myths because of what we want others to think well of us, or not to think badly of us.

Stella became hugely popular in the UK but then 'did a Burberry' (according to the Mail) and came to be known as 'wife beater', to the extent that people believed that there was something about Stella that made men aggressive (rather than the amount consumed).

The Wikipedia entry for Stella Artois and the entry for 'wife-beater' were said to have been altered by a PR company. Or so it says on Wikipedia.

So, what to believe? It is just as well that brewing heritage is just not very interesting to most people (even blokes). At least not until you drink beer. Drinking beer makes all sorts of things Quite Interesting, such as the history of Belgium.

And the information and the tone of voice in the posters is just right, in the style of the ‘did-you-know …?’ facts (or factoids) that men like.

I am looking forward finding out more quite interesting things about Stella. Or Belgium.

Comments

[Roderick White]

If you read the (wrong) accounts, they imply that Stella - the brand - has been around since 1366( or thereabouts). In fact, the brewery company has, but Stella the brand is 19th or even 20th century

[kevin]

Very good spot, Roderick. As you'll see, I've gone back to my sources and dug around a bit more! Kevin

[Rebecca]

I have some interesting facts about the Heineken slogan. Email will follow.