BY MARIANA GODAY
mgoday@elpais.com.uy
See a group of women taking something in a bowling or bar today not surprised anyone, even if the chosen drink is whiskey and beer. But that, by more natural that may seem, does not happen always. It was only in the last few years when they began to impose itself forcefully as consumers of alcoholic beverages and boosted even the appearance of new products on the market that are adapted to your palate, more sensitive to the alcohol content than the male.
At the same time, the gradual disappearance of prejudice with respect to alcohol consumption, led to dump more towards drinks that used to be associated with the male audience. But as all changes are gradual, still predominate which cut the whisky and soda, the most typical mixing drinks cola (whiscola).
This has also led to greater consumption workplaces flexibility. Before the bars and bowling alley were supportive (and well seen) especially for male consumption and the home was where mixed consumption was ‘allowed’. Today, on the other hand, both sexes share the spaces and times of intake of this type of product. And not only that, females increased its participation in both areas.
Gustavo Rodríguez, director of the Id Retail consultant, explained that this shift in preferences is immersed in the transformation of the roles of men and women in society. Currently it is commonplace to see her husband in the supermarket, making shopping for dinner, and the wife in the automotive, giving his point of view when it comes to buying a car for family use.
The same applies to alcohol: barriers are «overcoming it and equates the licences among men and women, so it is not surprising that they consume more».
In addition, the fact that households that have as main economic support to women are increasingly more common, led to that female win space and achieve a social legitimacy which used to be exclusively male.
Alejandro Crosa, Marketing Manager, Almena – distribution company brands such as Heineken, Santa Teresa, Don Pascual and Grant´s – instead believes that social prejudices about women’s consumption still weigh when choosing vodka or whisky distilled beverages.
This explains that the fermented wine, recognized by their attributes for health and with less alcohol content, as have registered a remarkable growth in female consumption in the past five years.
“There is one prominence greater than women in the wine, which is mainly due to that beyond all the good press that has this drink, has a nice alcoholic load for females, not so much as the distillates,” he explained Crosa.
So much so that in the Strip impedes ranging from 30 to 39 years, 61% of wine consumers are women. 40 To 49, the female represents 56 per cent and from 60 years up to 50.5%, according to data supplied by Battlement. In the Strip that goes from 18 to 29 years the equation changes that 71% of consumers are men.
The increase in the consumption of this drink female audience not accompanied, however, the evolution of the category in general. While 19 million liters of wine were sold in the first half of 2012, 2011 had been more in 2010 and 33 34.3 million litres, according to data registered by the National Institute of viticulture.
Crosa added that often them discarded whisky, e.g. by this negative social burden that they generally prefer drinks with lower alcohol content. «Why finish it mixing with soft drinks,» he said.
RODRIGUEZ noted, however, that increasingly weighs less than a lady will support a glass of wine or one of whisky on the table and added that it is not uncommon to see a group of friends taking this drink in a ‘Preview’ before going out to dance.
