Rwanda beer brand Skol says sorry for sexist jokes
- Published
The joke 'When can a woman make you a millionaire? When you are a billionaire', caused outrage
A beer company in Rwanda has apologised after critics said jokes that appeared on their bottles were sexist.
One of the jokes on a bottle of Skol asked, "when can a woman make you a millionaire" with the answer "when you are a billionaire".
Skol launched the beer labels with the jokes printed on them on Friday but on Monday promised to stop using them.
Rwanda is ranked fifth in the world for gender equality, according to the World Economic Forum's 2016 report.
Another joke, in French, said " how does a beauty queen try and kill a fish? By putting its head in water."
Emilienne Benurugo, the brand manager for Skol Lager was quoted in Rwandan Newspaper New Times, external as saying at the launch of the labels that the company aimed to help customers to not take life too seriously.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
But a backlash at the jokes ensued on Twitter.
Economist Chantal Umuhoza tweeted, external "Not in this country!" while another tweeter, Nsanga Sylvie, who describes herself as loving technology, declared that she was going to, external boycott Skol.
Among those to react was Gender Minister Soline Nyirahabimana, who shared a picture on twitter saying the jokes were, external "demeaning to women" and said that it was "not acceptable" in Rwanda and "should be punished by law".
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Skol, which is brewed in Rwanda by Belgian company Unibra, apologised on Twitter on Monday:
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.