CAPE TOWN - Castle Lager has taken a stand on stereotyping after the current Ashwin Willemse racial incident.
The company announced via Twitter that they will be selling beer without labels.
The move is to showcase their solidarity with “all those who are unfairly and callously labeled on a daily basis”.
The beer company also used the hashtag #AshwinWillemse to show that they are drawing parallels to the current racial incident involving Willemse.
In light of recent events, we’ve decided to lose our label* in solidarity with all those who are unfairly and callously labeled on a daily basis. This small act is a pledge that Castle Lager will work towards eradicating the labels that divide us. #SmashTheLabel #AshwinWillemse pic.twitter.com/k3y17cUxdQ
— Castle Lager SA (@CastleLagerSA) May 21, 2018
Castle said that they want to become part of the conversation and that is why the hasthtag #ashwinwillemse was used. Vaughan Croeser, brand director of Castle Lager said, "We want to help South Africans see beyond labels and stereotypes.”
Castle said on Tuesday that they are not choosing sides in the SuperSport incident. “We don’t know the all the facts. But the conversation on social media that followed was concerning.”
Former Springbok wing Ashwin Willemse walked off the set of a live SuperSport TV broadcast on Saturday night after a verbal clash with Nick Mallett and Naas Botha.
It was unclear what angered Willemse at the time, who was a fellow analyst for the Super Rugby match between the Lions and the Brumbies, to such an extent that he decided to leave the studio while on air.
In video clips posted on social media, Willemse mentioned that he was “not going to be patronised by two individuals who played in apartheid”, referring to Mallett and Botha, who were Springboks in the 1980s.
What was said off air before crossing back live? #SuperSport #AshwinWillemse pic.twitter.com/Hlbv6I9UyB
— thebigBAMtheory (@riaan_bam) May 19, 2018
FIRST TEST
It has been reported that the "beers without a label" will be sold at the first test match between SA and England on 9 June, according to Croeser.
Only a small number of beers (that are label free) will be sold on the day. "It will be done in a controlled way," he said to Business Insider SA.
Castle Lager is perhaps taking a page out of the Coca-Cola play-book. The multinational soda company ran a similar campaign in the Middle East in 2015. The campaign was run during Ramadaan and promoted tolerance and non-judgment.
The Coke cans had one side that was blank and another side that had the words ”labels are for cans, not for people".
"In a time when equality and abolishing prejudices is a hot topic for discussion around the world, how does one of the leading brands like Coca-Cola join in the conversation? In the Middle East, during the month of Ramadan, one of the world's most well-known labels has removed its own label off its cans in an effort to promote a world without labels and prejudices," Coke said.