The popular peppermint liqueur "Berliner Luft" is changed.
The hot topic caused numerous reactions from the spirits manufacturer's customers.
Munich/Berlin – colon, asterisk or underscore: Hardly any other topic heats people up as much as the debate about gender-equitable German language.
The fronts are hardened.
The discussion about the use of language is not new - society has been dealing with the topic since the 1970s.
One study indicated which population groups tend to favor or tend to oppose gendering.
The manufacturer of the cult drink "Berliner Luft" is now trying to use the debate for itself with a marketing campaign.
The spirits manufacturer Schilkin changed the name of the popular peppermint liqueur to: "Berliner*innen Luft".
"Berliner Luft" is countered: "A brand that does not polarize has no message"
With around 500,000 bottles, the company has changed the name,
Spiegel
reported .
The idea came from one of the managing partners, Erlfried Baatz.
In addition to the name change, the Red Town Hall depicted on the labels shone in rainbow colors, including the slogan: "Tolerance and Diversity".
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The popular liqueur “Berliner Luft” becomes “Berliner*innen Luft”.
© Sebastian Gabsch/imago
"A brand that doesn't polarize has no message," Baatz is quoted as saying by
Spiegel
.
"We tried a few things, but we had no other option graphically." Customers reacted promptly.
The medium-sized company has hardly ever received so many emails before.
In addition to praise, there was also criticism, which the managing director even answered personally.
The majority of consumers of the cult drink are under 30, including many students, explained Baatz.
"Gender is nothing unusual for them."
New name for "Berliner Luft": Limited special edition attracts attention
The gendered labels are a limited special edition.
In the long term, the cult drink will continue to be called “Berliner Luft”.
But the gendered capital always attracted attention on social media.
In the past, a gendered Edeka notice also caused displeasure among customers.
The reactions to the "Berliner*innen Luft" are different.
"Will no longer be bought," said a user of the short message service Twitter.
"Yeah cool, I'm celebrating," commented another.
"It's probably meant to be sarcastic.
Good marketing gimmick,” it said elsewhere.
A
WDR
survey recently showed that the majority rejects gender.
"Berliner*innen Luft": Winking smileys instead of gender asterisks
One thing is certain: the marketing campaign is polarizing.
Even if not everyone is happy about the renaming, the Berlin company does not take it that seriously.
This was suggested by the winking smiley that separates “inside” from “Berliner” on the label instead of the usual gender asterisk.
"We're not gender freaks," said Baatz.
Schilkin wanted to take advantage of the dynamics of social media.
The company seems to have succeeded in doing this.
Two months after the market launch, sales figures have increased.
In addition, some of the customers bought the gendered bottle as a collector's item, reported the
mirror
.
(cheese)
List of rubrics: © Sebastian Gabsch/imago
