Rwanda beer brand Skol says sorry for sexist jokes
- Published
image copyright_A beer company in Rwanda has apologised after critics said jokes that appeared on their bottles were sexist.
One of the jokes on a bottle of Skol asked, "when can a woman make you a millionaire" with the answer "when you are a billionaire".
Skol launched the beer labels with the jokes printed on them on Friday but on Monday promised to stop using them.
Rwanda is ranked fifth in the world for gender equality, according to the World Economic Forum's 2016 report.
Another joke, in French, said " how does a beauty queen try and kill a fish? By putting its head in water."
Emilienne Benurugo, the brand manager for Skol Lager was quoted in Rwandan Newspaper New Times as saying at the launch of the labels that the company aimed to help customers to not take life too seriously.
Beer company @SkolRwanda has unveiled Skol Lager new look and announced a partnership with local comedians "Comedy Knights" as part of enabling beer drinkers to take life a bit easy with enriching jokes. Skol Lager new look comes alongside a new campaign dubbed #LiveLaughLager. pic.twitter.com/xmmoXaNdUB
— Richard Kwizera (@Muzungu4) August 16, 2019
But a backlash at the jokes ensued on Twitter.
Economist Chantal Umuhoza tweeted "Not in this country!" while another tweeter, Nsanga Sylvie, who describes herself as loving technology, declared that she was going to boycott Skol.
Among those to react was Gender Minister Soline Nyirahabimana, who shared a picture on twitter saying the jokes were "demeaning to women" and said that it was "not acceptable" in Rwanda and "should be punished by law".
— NYIRAHABIMANA Soline (@NyirahabimanaS) August 17, 2019
Skol, which is brewed in Rwanda by Belgian company Unibra, apologised on Twitter on Monday:
Dear Consumer,
— Skol Rwanda - SBL (@SkolRwanda) August 19, 2019
We’re very aware of responses on social media to some jokes published with the #livelaughlager campaign.
Thank you for your feedback, we take it very seriously and apologise for any offense caused. We’ve stopped production of these jokes... (1/2)