Section:GDN 1N PaGe:3 Edition Date:190807 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 6/8/2019 21:21 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
Wednesday 7 August 2019 The Guardian •
News^3
Camra calls time on crude sexist
promotions of beer at festival
Rebecca Smithers
Consumer aff airs correspondent
The Campaign for Real Ale is calling
time on beers which feature sexist
names or imagery at its fl agship annual
event, the Great British Beer Festival ,
in a move to fl ush away outdated dis-
criminatory attitudes.
Drinks that have fallen victim to
brewers’ crude and ham-fi sted stereo-
typing – such as Slack Alice , a cider
described as “a little tart”, and beer
pump clips featuring scantily-clad
buxom women – have been banned
from this week’s event at London’s
Olympia, which is set to attract tens
of thousands of visitors.
The blanket ban goes further than
a code of conduct introduced by the
campaign group last year, and is
backed by a YouGov survey which
found that 68% of female drinkers
would be unlikely to buy a beer if it
was promoted by a “laddish” advert.
The fi ndings suggest British women
are boycotting products which refl ect
dated and discriminatory attitudes
associated with an industry tradition-
ally dominated by men.
All 1,000-plus beers, ciders andperries available at the festival, run-
ning until Saturday , have been checked
to ensure they adhere to Camra’s
charter and code of conduct covering
inclusivity and diversity. The festi-
val has also opted to back the charity
Stonewall and will be collecting on its
behalf throughout the week.
Camra’s move, in the wake of the
#MeToo movement and sexual har-
assment and abuse cases, is the latest
in the beer sector to try to stop sex-
ism and the alienation of female beer
drinkers, the brewery sector and writ-
ers covering the trade.
Last year the Society of Independ-
ent Brewers drew up a new code of
practice to outlaw marketing regarded
as sexist and off ensive.Abigail Newton , Camra’s national
director, said: “Consumer organisa-
tions like Camra have an important
role to play in making women feel
more welcomed within the beer world.
This is the fi rst time we’ve made such a
bold statement with a ban. It’s hard to
understand why some brewers would
actively choose to alienate the vast
majority of their potential customers
with material likely to only appeal to a
tiny and shrinking percentage.
“We need to do more to encour-
age female beer drinkers, which are
currently only 17% of the population
despite the fact that they make up
more than 50% of the potential market.
Beer is not a man’s drinks or woman’s
drink, it is a drink for everyone. ”▲ Visitors at Camra’s Great British
Beer Festival in London this weekHow to stop seagulls stealing your
chips? Keep a beady eye on them
Ian Sample
Science editor
They attack in a blur of white and
grey. In an instant, a pleasant day at
the beach is transformed into a Hitch-
cockian nightmare of screams, pecks
and fl apping wings. Before the victim
knows what hit them, their sausage
roll is no more.
Now, scientists have come up with
a simple defence against the menace
of food-snatching seagulls. Tests in
Cornish towns have found a chink in
the bold birds’ armour: they back off
from your snacks if you stare them out.
Madeleine Goumas, a postgraduate
researcher at Exeter University, ven-
tured to Falmouth, St Ives, Newquay
and other popular seaside spots armed
with a sealed bag of chips and a stop-
watch. When she arrived, she placed
the chips at arm’s length and timed
when the seagulls swooped.
For half the tests Goumas looked
away, pretending not to notice the
beady-eyed birds. But for rest of the tri-
als she locked eyes with the gulls to see
if they would have second thoughts.
According to her study, published in
Biology Letters , eye contact made the
birds nervy.
“We found that they are less
likely to approach food when they
are being watched,” Goumas said.
“Sometimes they would jump and
stop dead when they realised they
were being watched.” Others, mean-
while, skirted the food or meanderedaround in elaborate paths as if choos-
ing a moment to strike.
Perhaps the greatest surprise from
the research is that not all of the sea-
gulls Goumas encountered tried to
steal her chips. Of the 74 birds tar-
geted for the study, only 26% were
bold enough to touch the food. Among
those that did, making eye contact typ-
ically held them back for 21 seconds.
“The eff ect was clearer with some
individuals than others,” Goumas said.
“For the most part the gulls were wary
of me when I was watching them, but
there were a few individuals that were
quick to approach even when I was
looking at them.”
Food-snatching seagulls have ter-
rorised seaside towns for decades
but as the birds move on to more
urban centres, there is a need for bet-
ter defences. Scarborough council
opted for building nets, but others
have been more inventive. Some cafes
have armed clients with water pistols,
while the garden at a Wetherspoons
pub in Exeter will soon be patrolled
by a bird of prey.
Last month, Alan Amos, a Conserva-
tive councillor and mayor of Worcester
city council, told The Sun it was time
for a cull.
Goumas favours another approach.
“When we do see gulls snatching food
from people they tend to come from
behind and the people they take food
from usually have no idea it is about
to happen,” she said. “People can
take steps to prevent it. When you
eat, being against a wall that blocks a
gull’s access from behind, or just keep-
ing an eye out, being more vigilant,
reduces your chances of having your
food taken.”
While herring gulls have spread into
urban areas, their populations have
fallen in traditional coastal grounds.
The population of the birds in Britain
fell by 60% from 1969 and 2015, putting
the birds on the UK’s red list of Birds
of Conservation Concern.
“If people can take small steps to try
and reduce the confl ict that would be
really benefi cial for everyone. Gulls
are being vilifi ed. Some people really
don’t like them because of behaviours
like this. But actually, it looks like very
few gulls are bold enough to take food
from people,” Goumas said.
Dr Viola Ross-Smith at the British
Trust for Ornithology said the birds are
probably more cautious when humans
make eye contact because they real-
ise they are at risk of being attacked.
She agreed that the most canny
food-snatching gulls seem to attack
from behind. “It’s terrible to admit, but
I quite enjoy watching gulls do that,”
she said.▲ A seagull in Dorset. Their numbers along the coast have fallen, with the UK
population down by 60% from 1969 to 2015 PHOTOGRAPH: MARK PASSMORE/APEX▼ Looking a seagull in the eyes made
it less likely to approach to steal food,
a study has found
PHOTOGRAPH: BRUTUS OSTLING/CATERS NEWSРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS