Heineken Campaign Starring Jill Scott And Gary Neville Tackles Social Media Sexism
Heineken has developed a new campaign that saw Jill Scott MBE and Gary Neville swap social media accounts for five days to highlight the issue of online sexism.
The former England international players-turned-pundits secretly switched social accounts for five days to share their genuine views on matches, from the use of VAR to team rivalries and match predictions. Jill was posting from Gary’s account, and Gary was using Jill’s account.
The social experiment, entitled ‘The Social Swap’, aimed at addressing gender bias when it comes to women sharing their opinions about football on social media.
At the end of the experiment, Jill’s account received five times more sexist responses compared to Gary’s when sharing similar points of view and commentary online.
Jill Scott MBE, former England International and Pundit, said, “Attitudes have definitely changed, but there’s no doubt that female fans, pundits and players still get a lot more online negativity than men due to gender bias. You develop a thick skin – but we shouldn’t have to. Some people have probably been left a little red-faced by this experiment but hopefully it’s reminded everyone of the need to kick gender bias out of the game for good. Anyone can be a fan of sport, regardless of gender and it’s time to remember this.”
Gary Neville, Former England International and Pundit, added, “The heated debates and rivalries are what makes football so exhilarating. But when negativity is linked to gender, this goes too far, especially from behind a screen. By putting myself in Jill’s shoes and seeing the reaction, I have seen first-hand the uglier side of this sport that I love and want to make it clear that football is for everyone. On the pitch and online, we should treat each other with respect no matter our gender, race, sexuality or what colour shirt we’re wearing.”
Nabil Nasser, Global Head of Heineken Brand, explained, “Heineken wants to be the most inclusive sponsor in football and ‘The Social Swap’ shows not only the unfair imbalance in football fan culture but also how important it is that we all give gender bias and online toxicity the red card! As well as tackling the issue head on by calling out harmful practices, by teaming up with Arwen, we are excited to be able to be leveraging new AI technology to help fans ditch the negative noise and for this new season keep conversations about football, just about football.”
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