This Brewer Hired Women Illustrators to Remake the Cringingly Sexist Ads It Used to Run

“These images are part of our past … but the world has evolved, and so has Skol. This doesn’t represent us anymore.”

How often do you hear a brand say that?

Brazilian beer brand Skol is owning up to its sexist past. In a video for its latest campaign, “Reposter,” it openly shares previous ads in which sexy women are pretty flagrantly used as product bait. (Of course, this is par for the course in the history of many beer brands.)

Then it gave those posters to six female illustrators, who recreated them to promote more inclusive, respectful messaging.

The illustrators were Eva Uviedo, Criola, Camila do Rosário, Elisa Arruda, Manuela Eichner and Carol Rossetti, who worked with agency F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi.

“I accepted this project because I think it’s important to deconstruct stereotypes, preconceived notions,” says Criola.

“Reposter” actually succeeds at making sexism look tired, providing vivid and refreshing rebuttals to the platitude “sex sells.” But what we really love about this is how openly Skol owned its own problematic past, and sought to actively and openly change it.

“One thing I wanted to do was take the woman away from the role of the person serving the beer,” adds Arruda, who, in her “reposter,” positions the woman as the consumer.

See GIFs of three of the poster transformations here:

Brands evolve, and a necessary part of that is shedding norms that, in the light of new generations, show their age. It’s a picture that can be pretty ugly, so they usually like to evolve quietly, hoping past sins fade with new customers and an assault of fresh creative.

The problem is, people raised in an information age aren’t so forgetful, and one key question new customers ask is not only what you value but how you show it. What Skol has done here builds on what will ultimately become a collective history of who it is.

What it does next will cement its sincerity.

Here’s a screenshot of how a past Skol poster looked before:

Where do you suppose one buys a backless skirt?

Here is the work after. The first is by Camila do Rosário:

Eva Uviedo:

Carol Rossetti:

Elisa Arruda:

Criola:

Manuela Eichner:

Angela Natividad

@luckthelady angela.natividad@gmail.com Angela Natividad is a frequent contributor to Adweek's creativity blog, AdFreak. She is also the author of Generation Creation and co-founder of Hurrah, an esports agency. She lives in Paris and when she isn't writing, she can be found picking food off your plate.