Paris Hilton's sexist beer ad scandal

For the past weeks some of us have heard about the raunchy ad made by Paris Hilton in Brazil. The investment made by the Shincariol Group over its beer ‘Devassa Bem Loura’ has put the label on everyone’s lips (not only nationally but also in the international arena).

The campaign was commissioned to Agȇncia Mood who hired Paris Hilton as the star of its commercial. The National Advertising Self-Regulation Council (CONAR) in Brazil considered banning the ad because it was too sexist.

The debate over the advertisement is said to have given more power to the label that harming it. The Agȇncia Mood decided to go ahead with another ad with extreme irony. In the new advert the agency offers apologies to those that felt offended by the original ad and invites the people that were not offended to watch the original one in the Internet!

There is always a fine line in censorship – in trade marks for example this situation is seen in moral and/or immoral signs. The same happened here- what is to be catalogued as sexist? Every case is studied on its own merits, and it very much depends on the culture of the population. That is the reason why the ad has caused so much controversy.

I believe that the agency and thus the trade mark have obtained more than what was expected. Or, perhaps I am naive and this is what they were looking for. What do you think – was the campaign planned to do so?

You can watch the original ‘banned’ ad here and for the new ‘allowed’ ad click here.