2RossSkyler Ross5/6/2015HIST 128J: Beer in American
HistoryWindmills and Wooden Clogs: The Marketing of Heineken Beer
from 1945-1970
In Season Two, Episode Eight of AMCs Mad Men, advertising expert
Don Draper must pitch a brand new marketing strategy to the
executives at Heineken. In his attempts to define the brand, he
proposes placing large displays of the product in suburban
supermarkets for housewives to see while shopping for groceries.
The executives at Heineken want to try a different marketing
strategy, as they believe that their ideal target market is not the
suburban well-to-do housewife as Draper claims. To allay their
concerns, Draper launches an experiment that involves duping his
wife Betty through one of these displays by playing on her
aspiration to worldliness.[footnoteRef:2] It works. The Drapers
host a dinner party featuring food and beverage items from all over
the world, and Betty serves Heineken beer to the guests alongside
wine from France, gazpacho from Spain, and rumaki from Japan.
Betty, a metaphor for all suburban housewives, is humiliated when
she finds out about the scheme. Part of her anger stems from her
disinterest in being the subject of other peoples games. She and
women like her were the constant targets of food and beverage
advertising throughout the postwar period as they ran households
and raised children.[footnoteRef:3] But while Mad Men uses Heineken
as an example of average beer advertising, the drinks status as an
imported beer intended for elites warrants special consideration of
it. [2: Jennifer Gillan, Kodak, Jack, and Coke: Advertising and
Mad-Vertising, in Analyzing Mad Men: Critical Essays on the
Television Series, edited by Scott F. Stoddart (Jefferson, North
Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, 2011), 107.] [3:
Nathan Michael Corzine, Right at Home: Freedom and Domesticity in
the Language and Imagery of Beer Advertisements, 1933-1960, Journal
of Social History 43, no. 4 (June 2010): 84366.]
Between the 1950s and the 1970s, Heineken produced a series of
advertisements that buck the trend in beer advertising. Whereas
most breweries and beer companies tried to depict their beers in
American advertisements as integral to the proper functioning of
the family unit, Heinekens advertisements in this period rarely, if
ever, do so. Rather, appeals to novelty, masculinity, nationalism,
and prestige dominate the visual imagery and language surrounding
these advertisements. Heinekens ads grew in maturity during this
period. Whereas throughout much of the 1950s they depicted
cartoonish figures and caricatures of Dutch cultural objects, by
the 1970s the beers advertisements focused on presenting Heineken
as the epitome of clean, European masculinity. In the process, the
beer had to shed its specifically Dutch identity. This narrative
presents the marketing tactics of Heineken as separate and distinct
from the marketing tactics of the greater beer industry. The
advertisements of other premium beers in this era, such as National
Brewing Companys National Premium beer, show a highly competitive
approach to marketing domestic premium beers. The strategy of these
brewers was to deemphasize the link that Heineken had established
between importation and prestige. This discussion is informative on
several levels. From an economic perspective, it demonstrates how
market segmentation was a worthwhile strategy for companies looking
to grow. This advertising strategy involves splitting a large
market into smaller units in order to directly appeal to one or a
few of them. In the case of Heineken, the beer was intended solely
for elites and cosmopolitan-types, not the average man. From a
political perspective, it reflects changing attitudes toward
foreign countries, immigrants, and xenophobia. And from a cultural
perspective, it reflects a changing aesthetic within American
culture, where different had the potential to be the new in.Since
its founding in 1864, Heineken has grown into one of the most
powerful American import beers.[footnoteRef:4] America and the
Heineken Company have a strong relationship, with more than
one-fourth of the companys global sales coming from the Americas
and much of that consumption being in the United
States.[footnoteRef:5] For the worlds third-largest brewer by
sales, that is both a significant volume and a significant
proportion of revenue.[footnoteRef:6] At the same time, the
cultural landscape of the United States is necessarily impacted by
the continued presence of Heineken. As an object of material
culture, Heineken beer is consumed as the result of a complex
relationship between personal taste and the larger sociocultural
forces that shape it. One such force is the presence, form, and
character of marketing. [4: Our History (The Heineken Company,
n.d.), http://www.theheinekencompany.com/about-us/our-history.] [5:
The Americas-Regional Performance (The Heineken Company, n.d.),
http://www.theheinekencompany.com/about-us/our-global-presence/the-americas#view=markets®ion=3.]
[6: Maarten Van Tartwijk, Heineken Sees Profit Rise, The Wall
Street Journal, April 22, 2015,
http://www.wsj.com/articles/heineken-sees-profit-rise-1429685715.]
The complexities of this relationship date to the beers earliest
days in the United States. Philip van Munching introduced Heineken
to American consumers several days after Prohibition officially
ended in 1933. Over the course of his tenure as Heinekens exclusive
American importer, he developed unique tactics that presented
Heineken as a special product, or the champagne of
beers.[footnoteRef:7] Whereas most beers sold in the United States
at the time appealed to the commonalities shared among men,
Heineken operated under the belief that its higher cost and foreign
nature would most greatly appeal to those Americans who were
seeking cosmopolitanism. In other words, Heineken was a beer for
those who had taste and could afford a European
beer.[footnoteRef:8] As such, van Munching worked to have Heineken
sold only in upper class venues.[footnoteRef:9] He would arrive at
a restaurant or bar that did not currently stock Heineken, yet
order one anyway. When he was of course denied, he would be very
vocal about his disappointment. Later on in the day, a Heineken
salesman would arrive with a pack of the precious beer and a
contract proposal.[footnoteRef:10] Of course, van Munching utilized
other tactics as well. But the notoriety of his performances
demonstrates both their potential to raise awareness of Heineken
and their success in getting Heineken sold in more establishments.
Moreover, this tactic could be used in carefully chosen spaces,
which were often selected for reasons of class. [7: Barbara Smit,
The Heineken Story: The Remarkably Refreshing Tale of the Beer That
Conquered the World (London: Profile Books, 2014), 38.] [8: Ibid.,
40.] [9: Ibid., 40.] [10: Ibid., 39.]
Heinekens strategy in the United States contrasts with the
strategy the company used in other parts of the world, reflecting
how the American market was perceived as unique. In the United
States, Heineken sold its flagship product and attempted to
influence American consumers through advertising it in particular
ways. On the other hand, the company was prone to creating new
products for other expansion regions. Between 1932 and 1949,
Heineken created at least three new lagers in specific geographic
regions in order to appeal specifically to local tastes. The first
of these new products was Tiger Beer, which was created in Malaysia
in 1932. The Heineken Company followed by creating Bintang Beer in
Indonesia in 1937 and STAR in Africa in 1949.[footnoteRef:11]
Moreover, the distinct qualities of Heinekens American marketing
strategy were reinforced as they proved to be successful. Between
1950 and 1951, U.S. sales figures increased 49 percent from
3,087,336 bottles sold in 1950 to 4,608,000 bottles sold in
1951.[footnoteRef:12] Van Munching was personally rewarded for this
success. As early as 1953, he was receiving lavish gifts from the
Heineken executives in the Netherlands, and Heineken stock was
yielding huge dividends as a result of the booming cross-Atlantic
trade.[footnoteRef:13] Production expanded, too, as Heineken
constructed new breweries to accommodate this increased
demand.[footnoteRef:14] The impetus for much of this expansion was
likely growth of the American market. The boom in Heineken
consumption in the early 1950s yielded advertisements that
reflected the companys view of what American consumers would want
to see in the product. [11: Our History.; Official Website of
Nigerian Breweries PLC, n.d. http://nbplc.com/our_company.html.]
[12: Heinekens Sales Up 49, New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962),
January 14, 1952, 1322441686, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New
York Tribune / Herald Tribune.] [13: HEINEKENS DIVIDEND 9%: Dutch
Brewery Aide Reports Substantial Rise in Profits. The New York
Times. March 15, 1953.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/112565120?accountid=15172.] [14:
Heineken Plans New Brewery, Wall Street Journal (1923 - Current
File), December 2, 1969, 133348762, ProQuest Historical Newspapers:
The Wall Street Journal; Heineken Adds Dutch Brewery, New York
Herald Tribune (1926-1962), September 11, 1958, 1327297120,
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Tribune / Herald
Tribune.]
To the extent that van Munchings tactics might be considered
socially immature, the printed advertisements for Heineken from the
early 1950s through the mid-1960s reflect a similarly puerile
quality. One advertisement that ran in numerous publications during
this period features a caricature of a Dutch individual smiling,
smoking a pipe, wearing wooden clogs, and leaning against an
oversized bottle of Heineken beer (see Figure 1). The person and
the bottle are physically located right next to a custom Heineken
glass that could be purchased in sets of six, imported directly
from Holland.[footnoteRef:15] The ad relies on xenophobic
stereotypes to portray Heineken as a novelty item, and indeed, the
custom beer glasses were sold as part of a lineup of
Heineken-themed Dutch cultural objects. Others included ceramic
statues, windmill displays, and wooden clogs.[footnoteRef:16] In
using a cartoonish Dutch figure, in making that figure diminutive,
and in having the figure wear clogs, the ad creates a uniformly
simplistic view of Dutch people and culture. It attempts to present
Heineken as collectible, as an ornament that can be bought and
shown off. The kitschy aesthetic is supposed to be cute, which is
reinforced through the rhyme in the ads copy: Heinekens Heinekens
Heinekens Beer / A Treasure of Pleasure from Holland to
Here![footnoteRef:17] [15: Display Ad 120 -- No Title, Boston Globe
(1960-1983), July 29, 1962, 276443337, ProQuest Historical
Newspapers: The Boston Globe.] [16: Smit, The Heineken Story: The
Remarkably Refreshing Tale of the Beer That Conquered the World,
50.] [17: Ibid.]
That copy signifies the unique combination of foreignness,
prestige, and kitsch that was characteristic of Heinekens position
within the American beer market in the early postwar period.
Through highlighting the Dutch qualities of the beer, Heineken was
attractive to those who were looking to try something new. One ad
(Figure 2) from the late 1950s positions Heineken as a global drink
with strong roots in Holland. It draws upon stereotypical
connections between windmills and the Dutch countryside by
depicting four glass Heineken bottles arranged like windmill
blades, with a representation of the globe behind them to serve as
the windmill tower. Perhaps reflecting popular taste preferences
for beer at the time, the circular describes Heineken as having
unmatched flavor and lightness which has made it Americas largest
selling imported beer. Moreover, those preferences are said to be
global in nature: From Bombay to L.A. people of taste prefer
Heinekens. This ad is not particularly plebeian in tone and carries
with it an air of snobbery. Rather than inviting all readers to
take part in a global tradition, the ad welcomes only those readers
who care about prestige and who can afford to frequent restaurants,
bars and stores where quality counts.[footnoteRef:18] Another ad
(Figure 3) from 1960 explicitly references the finer restaurants,
bars and clubs at which Heineken might be served. The ad literally
serves Heineken to the cultured reader on a platter, alongside a
figurine of a Dutch person.[footnoteRef:19] [18: Display Ad 257 --
No Title, Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File), November 3, 1957,
167173122, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times.] [19:
Classified Ad 21 -- No Title, New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962),
June 19, 1960, 1324091377, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York
Tribune / Herald Tribune.]
Perhaps this snobbery in advertising is why Heinekens import
efforts were not particularly profitable until the late 1950s,
despite the huge growths in sales that had begun earlier in the
decade. Ignorance may also have contributed to this situation.
Having been marketed as a uniquely Dutch beer, Heineken may have
inadvertently limited its sales because many Americans had little
idea of what Holland was. Despite the recent memory of World War
II, a study conducted by the breweries embarrassingly revealed that
pitching Heineken as a Dutch beer was a complete waste of time
because the average US punter was unashamedly ignorant of European
geography. Most thought that Heineken was imported from
Germany.[footnoteRef:20] Quite simply, it did not matter to most
Americans where Heineken originated. The important thing is that it
was from Europe, that it was imported, and that it was different
than every other beer. Even though Heineken was marketed with
prestige and gentility in mind, its potential for growth was
limited because specific knowledge was prerequisite for
consumption. [20: Smit, The Heineken Story: The Remarkably
Refreshing Tale of the Beer That Conquered the World, 50.]
Beginning in the late 1950s, Heinekens ads began shifting away
from prominent and explicit references to Dutch culture. These
signifiers of Dutch origin were replaced by signifiers of European
origin more broadly in order to appeal to a more inclusive
audience. One ad (Figure 4) shows a Heineken bottle that is being
transported to an unknown location (presumably the United States)
in a rowboat. The ad reads, Heinekens Beerthe unhurried Dutch
treat, turning the relative inefficiency of rowboat travel into a
source of pride.[footnoteRef:21] In this ad, Heineken was
portraying the beer as a carefully crafted luxury, and images of
Dutch culture beyond the Heineken bottle itself would have been
superfluous to that goal. Another ad (Figure 5) depicts a bottle of
Heineken within a ships porthole, as if it were on its way to the
United States on a first class [trip] from Holland. In the distant
background is the ads only Dutch signifier, a windmill that almost
goes unnoticed at first glance. All other mention of
internationality relies on the name Holland only, rather than on
visual or cultural imagery. The vague nature of the ad shows
Heinekens desire to continue using perceptions of foreignness while
avoiding the didacticism that comes with being too
Dutch.[footnoteRef:22] This ad ran throughout the country, and it
received slightly modified copy in each region. For example, when
it ran in The Los Angeles Times in 1957, it read: The West Coasts
favorite comes first class from Holland.[footnoteRef:23] When it
ran in the Chicago Daily Tribune, the copy was modified to
reference the Midwest rather than the west coast.[footnoteRef:24]
In each iteration, the ad highlights the strength of the
relationship between a foreign product and various domestic
geographic regions. While the specificity of the American qualities
of Heinekens ads increased, the specificity of the beers native
European qualities decreased during the same time period. [21:
Display Ad 825 -- No Title, New York Times (1923-Current File),
November 17, 1957, 114305722, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The
New York Times.] [22: Display Ad 711 -- No Title, New York Times
(1923-Current File), November 3, 1957, 114307204, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: The New York Times.] [23: Display Ad 282 --
No Title, Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File), November 24, 1957,
167145341, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times.] [24:
Display Ad 225 -- No Title, Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963),
October 20, 1957, 180253781, ProQuest Historical Newspapers:
Chicago Tribune.]
Along these lines, one notable ad (Figure 6) from the mid-1960s
simply shows a pair of wooden clogs and a bottle of Heineken. The
image drops most pretensions to class and gender while creating a
clear ethos of foreignness around the beer. The ad is clean,
simple, streamlined, and bold. The strong use of negative space
draws increased attention to the Heineken bottle that is at the
forefront of the image. The wooden clog, as a principal Dutch
cultural artifact, is in the background. While still prominent, the
shape of the clog draws the readers eye toward the bottle, which
lies at the high point of the clogs design.[footnoteRef:25] Another
mid-1960s ad even leaves out the clogs, instead showing a bottle of
Heineken resting inside of a tall-stemmed glass. While the words
HOLLANDS PROUD BREW rest below the image and the bottle has a large
label that reads IMPORTED, the ad is totally devoid of other overt
references to Dutch culture.[footnoteRef:26] Another late 1950s ad
is similarly lacking in the presence of Dutch cultural icons. The
image is simply a picture of a Heineken bottle with copy that
reads: Theyre still making masterpieces in Holland[footnoteRef:27]
Such an ad relies on the assumption that Americans would recognize
Holland as a superior place for beer manufacturing. The simplicity
of this ad might mean that Heineken was looking to appeal to a
larger consumer base by eliminating the more confusing marketing
elements. This sanitization may be the product of the changing
character of xenophobia in the United States. The cartoonish nature
of earlier ads demonstrated a willingness to expose oneself to
foreign cultures, yet pejoratively streamlined them so that the
Dutchness of the product might be more easily expressed. [25:
Display Ad 154 -- No Title, New York Times (1923-Current File),
August 8, 1965, 116952030, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New
York Times.] [26: Display Ad 33 -- No Title, The Washington Post,
Times Herald (1959-1973), May 12, 1965, 142672594, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post.] [27: Display Ad 248 --
No Title, New York Times (1923-Current File), May 4, 1958,
114353730, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times.]
The characteristics of kitsch and cute that were consistent
throughout Heinekens early postwar ads are not too dissimilar to
the domestic beer television ads that were common at the time. A
YouTube search for 1950s beer ads yields several examples of
musicalized cartoons from brewers such as Rheingold, Black Label,
and Ballantine. However, there is another distinct trend in
domestic beer advertising that emphasized familial bonding and
homegrown masculinity. As in the case of Betty Draper from Mad Men,
women of the era purchased food and drink at the local supermarket
for their husbands to consume once they arrived
home.[footnoteRef:28] The beers they purchased were produced
domestically, for the most part, and beer manufacturers created ads
that reflect a highly gendered dynamic. Corzine writes, [28:
Corzine, Right at Home: Freedom and Domesticity in the Language and
Imagery of Beer Advertisements, 1933-1960, 846.]
For men, the ads summoned them to drink, be manly and be
American. Good times were waiting. For women, the ads represented a
symphony of complications and contradictions. They were being
offered a ticket into a world heretofore belonging to men, but the
price of admission was steep. Sure, women could drink, but the
advertisements also delimited the place and manner of the
act.[footnoteRef:29] [29: Corzine, Right at Home: Freedom and
Domesticity in the Language and Imagery of Beer Advertisements,
1933-1960, 844.]
As Corzine notes, domestic ads in the postwar period linked beer
with gender, nationalism, and social policing of who could drink
under what circumstances. For example, domestic breweries were
emphasizing the importance of their products to the well being of
womens husbands as early as 1940, linking domestic happiness to the
presence of a particular beer. One Budweiser ad paints a portrait
of a happy husband through the image of a man reading a newspaper
and smoking a cigar while drinking a beer.[footnoteRef:30] This man
is the epitome of relaxation, connecting Budweiser to manliness and
leisure, as well as to domestic contentment. This is typical for
domestic beer ads throughout the postwar and early Cold War
periods. [30: Portrait of a Happy Husband (Budweiser, 1940),
http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/beer-in-ads-576-portrait-of-a-happy-husband-by-a-smart-wife/.]
Heinekens advertising began to take on similar qualities to
these domestic marketing tactics. For instance, as Heinekens Dutch
characteristics grew less significant in the beers advertising, its
appeals to American nationalism grew. Heineken delights the U.S.A.
every day! is the claim of one late 1950s ad[footnoteRef:31] This
statement is a reminder to previous Heineken consumers that they
are familiar with the beer and liked it in the past. It is also an
appeal to potential new consumers who might be drawn in by claims
that the beer is appreciated by their American friends and
neighbors. Printed during the height of the Cold War, this ad would
have a great impact on those who were concerned for the safety of
their country. Another ad (Figure 7) that was widely circulated for
the 1958 Brussels Worlds Fair is similarly related to Heinekens
attempts to position the drink as an integral part of American
culture. In this ad, Heineken is described as being the only
European beer served in the American pavilion of the Worlds Fair in
large letters above the image. Only directly below that text, in
italicized characters and much smaller type, does the ad
acknowledge the importance of the beverage to the Netherlands by
characterizing it as the only beer served at the Netherlands
Pavilion![footnoteRef:32] In the context of the American market, it
was important for Heineken to depict itself as an American
commodity, even as it remained an imported product. [31: Display Ad
272 -- No Title, Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File), August 16,
1959, 167485644, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles
Times.] [32: Display Ad 233 -- No Title, Chicago Daily Tribune
(1923-1963), September 14, 1958, 182175758, ProQuest Historical
Newspapers: Chicago Tribune.]
Tied into these appeals to nationalism are subtle hints at
nostalgia. An ad from the late 1940s claims that Heineken is of the
same high quality that made it Americas most popular imported beer
as in the past.[footnoteRef:33] In linking these two
qualitiesnationalism and nostalgiathe ads attempt to recall a
longer past than was reality. Heineken had only been in the United
States for approximately 15 years at the time of this ads
publication, yet the ad attempts to make the beers presence seem
much more historical than it actually was. Still, in an age of
massive national insecurity, with World War II still a recent
memory and the Soviet Union posing an ongoing threat, the past
would have seemed almost quaint and relaxed. The ad alleges that
Heineken has a traditional popularity within the United States. In
the process, the reader might be reminded that his parents and
grandparentsprobably his father and grandfatherhad drunk Heineken
and enjoyed Heineken for the same reasons that he might, if only he
were to try it. [33: Display Ad 99 -- No Title, New York Herald
Tribune (1926-1962), November 14, 1947, 1322180779, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: New York Tribune / Herald Tribune.]
As in domestic beer ads, nationalism was closely linked to
masculinity. By the early 1960s, Heineken was attempting to adopt
this more masculine image by focusing on more realistic pictures of
men, as opposed to the cartoonish figures of an earlier era. The
men featured in these ads were incredibly clean, almost absurdly
so. Chiseled jawlines, high cheekbones, and stern faces dominate
these images to create a sense of elite polish. Whereas some
male-gendered products relied on depictions of rugged athleticism
to reinforce associations with masculinity, Heinekens men look
varnished and dapper. One striking ad (Figure 8) from the mid- to
late 1960s shows a man wearing a well-pressed suit reading a
newspaper and drinking a bottle of Heineken beer. The significance
of the image would not be lost on the male reader, who could
imagine himself looking just as in control. At the same time, the
ad depicts leisurely activity that is calm and relaxing. Just as in
the 1940 Budweiser ad, the man is depicted reading a newspaper. The
ads copy invites the reader to join in this relaxation, commanding
him to Take a little more time with Heineken.[footnoteRef:34] This
ad tells the reader that perusing a newspaper while drinking a
Heineken is the key to being that man. [34: Display Ad 115 -- No
Title, Chicago Tribune (1963-Current File), July 12, 1964,
179530472, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune.]
Of course, the ad relies on the assumption that many would want
to be that man. As a result, it closely links Heineken and
prestige. The subject of the ad is wearing a full suit, in contrast
to the 1940 Budweiser ad whose subject is sitting in a chair with
his suit jacket not shown. The Heineken ad seems to be for the man
who is taking a break whereas the Budweiser ad is intended for the
man who is done for the day. Notions of prestige also come from the
text of the ad, which emphasizes Heinekens lengthy aging process
and how the beer is imported from Holland. As a beer intended for
elites, Heineken was more expensive. In Washington, D.C. in 1974, a
case of Heineken cost $10.99, which is the equivalent of $52.32
today.[footnoteRef:35] The only people who could afford to drink
Heineken were those who could afford to frequent the upper class
establishments that van Munching had lobbied when Heineken was
first imported into the United States. In this sense, the ad in
Figure 8 implies that only a select few could be the man shown.
[35: Display Ad 12 -- No Title, The Washington Post (1974-Current
File), October 3, 1974, 146109424, ProQuest Historical Newspapers:
The Washington Post; Inflation Calculator (The Bureau of Labor
Statistics, n.d.),
http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm.]
These appeals to nationalism, nostalgia, masculinity, and
prestige were not universally well received. A 1977 piece by Peter
A. Jay summarizes this pushback:The name of the bar doesnt
matterNow it has fake Tiffany lamps, and the clientele, mostly
young and with plenty to spend, drinks Heineken or
chablis-on-the-rocks instead of National Bohemian. If it were
magically transplanted to some other place where there are large
concentrations of students or well-aid government workersnobody
walking in off the street would notice anything
odd.[footnoteRef:36] [36: Peter A. Jay, The Heineken Generation:
The Name of the Bar Doesnt Matter., The Sun, April 1, 1977,
http://search.proquest.com/docview/541144128?accountid=15172.]
Describing the loss of specificity and regional culture in an
Annapolis bar, Jay is disdainful of the increasing gentrification
he sees in Annapolis. One expression of this gentrification is
through the alcoholic beverages that people in Annapolis were
choosing to consume. Jays use of Heineken as a cursory example of
this gentrification is interesting in the context of Heinekens
marketing in this era because it demonstrates the extent to which
that marketing was successful. Jay did not need to explain what
Heineken was or who typically consumed it; he could safely assume
that his readers would associate the beverage with an elite
clientele and particular upper class social spaces. Jays piece also
demonstrates how the very characteristics that Heineken used to
appeal to consumers might alienate them. For instance, Jay writes,
Annapolis, since it became hip as well as historic, is not what it
was.[footnoteRef:37] This evokes nostalgia similar to that in
Heinekens ads, yet perceives it in a negative light as a result of
dissatisfaction with social change. The rise of Heineken in Jays
bar is an example of that change. [37: Ibid.]
Perhaps coincidentally, the other beer that Jay mentions as
Heinekens more working-class alternative was manufactured by a
company that also produced an upper class beer called National
Premium, which competed directly with Heineken. First brewed by the
Baltimore-based National Brewing Company in 1936, National Premium
was always intended to be the more elite cousin to National
Bohemian. In the 1940s, National Premium sold for 15 cents per
bottle, whereas National Bohemian cost 10 cents per
bottle.[footnoteRef:38] By the 1970s, the National Brewing Company,
like most smaller brewers, had attempted to expand in order to stay
relevant. The brewing industry was well into a national
consolidation, and many small and regional breweries that had
survived both stagnant demand and the national giants power seized
on merger as a way to gain strength through
diversity.[footnoteRef:39] The National Brewing Company purchased
an olive oil company, Arizona Brewing in 1966, and Carling brewery
in 1975.[footnoteRef:40] National Brewing also emphasized the
diversification of its product line through advertising. [38: The
Story | National Premium (National Premium, n.d.),
http://www.nationalpremiumbeer.com/the-story/.] [39: Maureen Ogle,
Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer (Orlando: Harcourt,
2006), 244.] [40: Ibid., 244-245.]
A series of three National Premium ads from 1969 demonstrates
the position that premium domestic beers found themselves in. The
first (Figure 9), printed in The New York Times in January,
explains a taste-testing contest that National Brewing supposedly
held to compare National Premium to three of the leading import
beers, including Heineken. The ad is large and text-heavy, but the
text is broken up by a very prominent bottle of National Premium
and a stemmed glass that is presumably filled with the same. The
text in the ad begins using ornate language to highlight the beers
prestigious nature and mentions its domestic character outright:
Whereinour proud premium brew from the U.S.A. comes to grips with
the imported beers[footnoteRef:41] Heineken had positioned itself
as a Dutch product that was intertwined with American identity. In
this ad, National Premium highlighted its domestic nature in order
to appeal to the readers sense of patriotism. In a sense, National
Premium had an advantage in marketing Americanismit was actually
American. The ad repeatedly claims that the participants in the
taste test preferred National Premium to each of the three imports,
which included Lowenbrau and Tuborg in addition to Heineken. The
participants allegedly chose National Premium or insisted they
liked it as well as Heineken, although there is no external source
that can corroborate the ads claims. [41: Display Ad 302 -- No
Title, New York Times (1923-Current File), January 19, 1969,
118551441, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times.]
The next ad to appear (Figure 10), from September 1969, draws
upon the results of this taste test. This ad features a prominent
image of the same National Premium bottle and glass from the
January ad, but this time they are located at a harbor. The tagline
of this second ad is, National Premium missed the boatand came in
first, referring to the results of the taste test.[footnoteRef:42]
The ad is possibly a response to Heinekens boat-themed ads from the
late 1950s. In both examples, geography and travel are used, but to
different ends. In Heinekens case, travel is supposed to be
prestigious. In National Premiums case, travel is ridiculed. The ad
plays on the notion that inherently linking foreignness with
prestige is illogical. If a domestic beer can be as good as or
better than an import beer, then the import beer is not improved
simply by being from a different country. National Premiums ad asks
the question quite bluntly: Does a beer need ocean passage to be a
truly fine beer?[footnoteRef:43] [42: Display Ad 459 -- No Title,
The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), September 7, 1969,
143654640, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post.]
[43: Ibid.]
In some ways, the third National Premium ad from 1969 (Figure
11) contradicts the implications of the second. Published in The
Washington Post in October, this final advertisement claims that
National Premium is so good that it should be
exported.[footnoteRef:44] Such a statement relies on the very
relationship between internationality and prestige that National
Premium had combatted in the earlier ad. However, making this claim
allows National Premium to create a strong argument that the beer
is an American drink. The ad claims Europe will have to wait.
National Premium has an obligation to American palates. The ad is
telling readers that they should purchase National Premium because
of its quality and because other people demand it, which is not
unlike how Heineken tried to appeal to Americans sense of
patriotism by alluding to a common bond that all Americans
supposedly share.[footnoteRef:45] [44: Display Ad 514 -- No Title,
The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), October 12, 1969,
143658767, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post.]
[45: Ibid.]
The marketing of National Premium implicitly relies on the
previous work of Heineken in linking a product to various aspects
of society, including class and prestige. Where the two differ,
however, is in how each approaches the topic of internationality.
By the late 1960s, Heinekens approach is to present a streamlined
image of Dutch culture and use representations of it to signify
heightened taste. On the other hand, National Premium as a domestic
beer had to present itself as a homegrown product. National
Premiums marketing strategy necessarily undermined Heinekens by
attempting to weaken the link between importation and prestige.
However, National Premium could also appeal to a sense of American
nationalism in ways that Heineken could not. The success of
National Premiums strategies was limited. National Premium was sold
to various brewers several times through the 1970s and 1980s before
production stopped completely in 1996. Production was revived in
2011, although the beers popularity remains
limited.[footnoteRef:46] Heineken, of course, continued production
and importation throughout. [46: The Story | National Premium.]
Between 1945 and 1970, the marketing tactics that Heineken used
changed from trivialized and pejorative cartoons into more mature
expressions of leisurely masculine and refined upper class
identity. As domestic beer ads changed to portray the relaxed
average man, Heinekens ads instead grew to depict Heineken beer as
an incredibly important product. This pretentious quality was not
without backlash, as Jay described in the late 1970s. But it still
bore powerful implications for the rest of the premium beer
industry, including the National Brewing Company, which overtly and
explicitly attacked Heineken in order to increase market share
during a period of turmoil within the brewing industry. The
Heineken Company acknowledged that it would never be able to
attract all Americans, but rather those who appreciated refinement
and cosmopolitanism above violence and brazenness. Heineken would
never be seen at a Super Bowl party or a baseball game, but rather
at the dinner tables of those who wanted to experience something
new. Betty Draper from Mad Men is just one such person.
Appendix of Images
Figure 2Figure 1
Figure 4Figure 3Figure 5Figure 6
Figure 7Figure 8
Figure 10Figure 9Figure 11
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