The Handmaid of Capitalism

Along with our trip to the Museum of Brands, Advertising and Packaging we had a lecture. In this we discussed the negative effect of cooperations and their heavy influence upon our ethical choices. It is important to highlight the fact that people are becoming increasingly aware of the consequences of the apparently banal decisions that we make based on the price of, say, a sofa. Our current rate of consumption is through the roof and it seems that both consumers and the workers for large companies are feeling less and less comfortable with buying and producing according to price given the enormous environmental effects. Most worryingly, we learnt that if the US carries on manufacturing and consuming at the rate it does, it would need the equivalent of over 5 worlds worth of resources to do so. Whereas many countries in Africa would need less than a quarter of the worlds resources to carry on. How can this obsession with ever increasing growth make us happy let alone justify the means by which these never-ending shopping lists are manufactured? We were given the task at the museum of choosing a cooperation to analyse. I chose to look at Guinness and its very clever advertising over the years. First of all the basics. Guinness sells mainly a dark beer that gains its colour and distinctive burnt taste from a little roasted unmalted barley in the brewing process and its signature moussey 'head' simply by adding nitrogen when poured. On their website they describe a pint of Guinness draught beer as 'Swirling clouds tumble as the storm begins to calm, settle, breathe in the moment, then break through the smooth, light head to the bittersweet reward. Unmistakeably GUINNESS® beer, stout, or draught , from the first velvet sip to the last, lingering drop. And every deep-dark satisfying mouthful in between. Pure beauty. Pure GUINNESS®'. Pretty much every adult in the country knows the phrase 'Guinness is good for you' from the 20s and thus came the loyal Guinness drinkers who drank it because of its beneficial qualities of a high iron content and several calories when they weren't as cheaply and readily available in food. Even doctors recommended it. I have several issues with Guinness and  their so-called legacy, one being that every other middle-aged beer belly that comes to the microbrewery I work for asked for a pint of it even though we have a far superior stout. Anyway, Guinness sell to mainly men and a large portion of their market is in Ireland; in spite of a decline in consumption since 2001, it is still the best-selling alcoholic drink in Ireland where Guinness & Co. makes almost €2 billion annually. They also have a huge market in Africa; Guinness has a significant share of the African beer market, where it has been sold since 1827. About 40% of worldwide total Guinness volume is brewed and sold in Africa, with Foreign Extra Stout the most popular variant. Guinness' brand values are their distinctive style of beer, being so unique that very few pubs in the UK offer an alternative stout on draught, their so-called Irish heritage despite the fact that a porter such as the original Guinness originates in London, and an emphasis on advertising, having coined several phrases over the years including 'Good things come to those to wait', a reference to the fact that it should take 119.53 seconds to pour the 'perfect pint' of Guinness due to a 'double pour' method. The social and environmental impact of Guinness is also to do with its advertising, well at least the social aspect is. Up until the late 80s there was still advertising in Africa that claimed Guinness had health benefits which is totally illegal due to various laws in place to prevent excessive consumption of alcohol. It only became such a popular drink because of clever campaigns that always had some kind of catchphrase- "Guinness is good for you", "It's 17.59 it's Guinness time", "Guinness for Strength", "Lovely Day for a Guinness", "Guinness Makes You Strong," "My Goodness My Guinness". In terms of the environmental impact, there's the obvious impact of transportation and also bottling. Furthermore, there is a huge amount of water wasted in the brewing process.