The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2019
A Düsseldorf brewery's fox-woman poster united a state parliament committee against it
Im Füchschen's poster showed a fox-woman on a grill with a steak pun. Germany's ad council called it sexist; every woman on a state committee protested.
Im Füchschen · 2019-07
What happened
In mid-2019, Düsseldorf brewery Im Füchschen ran posters around the city showing a curvy woman with a fox face suggestively seated atop a grill, holding up a steak, under wordplay roughly translating to 'have it medium rare or go for raw?'
Düsseldorf's city-hall Equal Opportunities Office filed a complaint, followed by the Equal Opportunities Committee of the state parliament — all 14 female members of which signed a protest letter against the poster.
Germany's self-regulatory Deutscher Werberat ruled the ad crossed from humor into sexism, finding the depiction of a woman as a sexual object degrading. The brewery removed the poster and replaced it with a new one reading 'Today politically correct. Füchschen: Equal rights for all,' using wordplay on the German word for equality.
Why it happened
- Escalation from a city office to a state parliamentary committee shows how a local ad complaint can climb institutional levels fast once it's read as a pattern, not an isolated joke.
- A brewery known for cheeky, risqué advertising found that reputation didn't insulate this specific execution — a house style built on innuendo still has a line the regulator will draw.
- The replacement ad's ironic 'politically correct' framing let the brewery comply with the ruling while signaling it hadn't fully accepted the premise of the complaint — compliance without concession.
The lesson
Im Füchschen's fox-woman poster drew a formal sexism ruling and a protest signed by every woman on a state committee. The brewery pulled it for a wry compliance ad.
Aftermath
The brewery replaced the poster and continued its risqué advertising style within the boundaries the Werberat's ruling implied.
Sources
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