ABSTRACT
It is undeniable that beer and sports with a high level of aggressive, physical contact, including rugby, are key signifiers of masculine identity. Sport-related beer advertisements and promotional culture reproduce meaningful connections between sport and men and between beer and men, and they strengthen the normalised practice of marketing beer brands through men’s sport. In the rugby context, beer companies are longstanding supporters of men’s rugby, while promotional links between the alcohol industry and women’s rugby have been limited until recently. In August 2019, Guinness released “Liberty Fields,” a minidocumentary with a 60-second shortened version, ahead of the men’s Rugby World Cup in Japan. The ad tells the story of the Liberty Fields Rugby Football Club (RFC), a Japanese women’s rugby team that represented Japan at the first women’s Rugby World Cup in 1991. In the ad, women from the original Liberty Fields RFC speak of the stereotypical social struggles for women in Japanese society during the late 1980s and the cultural barriers they faced as women playing a physical, traditionally masculine sport. This chapter offers a critical discussion of Guinness’ “Liberty Fields” advertisement and represents the humble beginnings to answer a call for research to address the dearth of literature on women, sport and beer commercials.
