Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 317–320, 2014
Advance Access Publication 9 January 2014
doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agt178
Looking into the Glass: Glassware as an Alcohol Marketing Tool, and the Implications for Policy
Martine Stead*, Kathryn Angus, Laura Macdonald and Linda Bauld
Institute for Social Marketing, UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, Stirling Management School, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK
*Corresponding author: E-mail: [email protected]
(Received 2 August 2013; first review notified 22 October 2013; in revised form 21 November 2013; accepted 25 November 2013)
Abstract — Aims: To examine how glassware functions as a marketing tool. Methods: Content analysis of trade journals. Results:
Glassware is used as an integral part of marketing activity to recruit customers, revive brands, build profits and increase consumption.
Conclusion: Glassware should be subject to the same control as other forms of marketing. Glasses could be re-engineered to promote
safer drinking.
INTRODUCTION
There is considerable evidence that alcohol marketing is associated with increased likelihood of drinking uptake and progression to heavier drinking (Anderson et al., 2009) and there
have been calls for tighter regulation, including a complete
ban on all forms of promotion (BMA Board of Science, 2009;
University of Stirling, 2013). As well as examining whether
alcohol marketing influences drinking, studies have explored
how it exerts this influence, through content analyses and
investigations into how consumers respond to marketing
(Gordon et al., 2010; de Bruijn 2012). Another approach is to
examine how marketers themselves discuss their strategies,
using evidence ‘from the horse’s mouth’. For example, an analysis of internal alcohol industry marketing documents found
that sophisticated appeals to sociability, belonging and masculinity were crafted with the stated aim of recruiting new young
customers, increasing consumption and nudging drinkers
towards stronger products (Hastings et al., 2010). The findings
contributed to the UK Health Select Committee calling for
stronger regulation of marketing independent of both the
alcohol and advertising industries (House of Commons Health
Committee, 2010).
A largely unexamined alcohol marketing tool is the glassware used in licensed premises. By ‘glassware’ and ‘glass’ we
mean not the bottles in which alcohol beverages are sold but
the tumblers, wine glasses and so on into which alcoholic
drinks are poured for serving in licensed premises. These may
be branded (as with beer glasses) or unbranded but designed
for particular categories of alcohol drink. Little academic attention has been paid to how this branded glassware might
function as a means of influencing consumer attitudes and behaviour. This paper uses evidence from the alcohol trade press
to examine the marketing intentions underpinning decisions
about glass design in the alcohol and hospitality industries,
and discusses the implications for policy.
METHODS
A review was conducted of UK periodicals aimed at alcohol
retailers, producers and the hospitality sector from 1990
onwards. These typically contain industry news, new product
announcements, reports on legislation and opinion pieces.
A search for permutations of the terms ‘glass’, ‘size’ and
‘shape’ was run in June–July 2012 in the online versions of the
main periodicals (Caterer and Hotelkeeper, The Drinks Report,
Harpers, JustDrinks, Off Licence News, The OnTrade Preview
and The Publican’s Morning Advertiser), and in Nexis UK, a
subscription database including hospitality, food and beverage
and manufacturing journals. In total 391 articles were found, of
which 63 met the study criteria and were included. Article
content was coded thematically in relation to the glass feature
being discussed (e.g. size, shape, design) and the marketing
function or aim (e.g. to boost sales, revive brand interest, recruit
new segments), and the findings presented in a narrative synthesis structured around key themes.
INCREASING THE PLEASURE OF DRINKING
The articles demonstrate that the glass’s potential to enhance
the drinking experience is increasingly being appreciated:
‘Glassware is a much-overlooked feature within the trade and is
becoming increasingly important as a marketing tool’
(McFarland, 2002). The use of bespoke glassware for a particular brand is seen as a way of ensuring consistency of presentation across outlets, increasing loyalty among current customers
and boosting trial among non-customers (Publican’s Morning
Advertiser, 1999). Comparisons are made with continental beerproducing countries, where distinctive glassware for each beer
brand ‘is considered an integral part of the pomp and ceremony’
of beer drinking (McFarland, 2002). Unlike other forms of marketing, the glass enjoys close proximity to the drinker, ensuring
that ‘the branding [on the glass] is there from the moment of
dispense to the last mouthful’ (McFarland, 2002). The articles
demonstrate a growing interest in the ‘science’ of glassware,
with several citing experiments that claim to demonstrate how
different glass shapes and sizes and even the thickness and
angle of the rim affect wine aroma and taste (e.g. Delwiche and
Pelchat, 2002; Hummel et al., 2003). Innovations to increase
tactile pleasure are described, such as a Heineken glass with ‘an
embossed curve on the side, adding a pleasant feeling when
held’ (Murray, 2011) and a highball glass with an indentation of
‘five lines representing the five aspects of the perfect serve:
spirit, mixer, glass, ice and garnish’, because ‘men like to have
something to play with while holding a drink’ (Cran, 2006).
SEX APPEAL
In 2009, an initiative by ‘The BitterSweet Partnership’, created to
‘get more women into beer’, worked with glass designers to
create beer glasses that would appeal to a female audience
© The Author 2014. Medical Council on Alcohol and Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
318
Stead et al.
(Hook, 2009). It was claimed that ‘a quarter of women would
consider beer if glassware changed’ (Hook, 2009) and that
women regarded beer packaging as ‘ugly and manly’ (Lewis,
2010a). A competition was held to come up with a ‘new femalefriendly half-pint glass’ (Lewis, 2010a) which would also ‘sex
up beer’s image’ and make customers ‘feel better about their
choice of drink’ (Publican’s Morning Advertiser, 2008).
Continuing this theme, Heineken UK argued that the industry
needed to provide women with drinks that are ‘well-presented,
stylish and elegant’, because ‘the way a drink looks is an important part of how a drink makes a woman feel’ (McLelland, 2010).
In 2010, Woodpecker cider launched ‘an elegant new glass
to appeal to the 60% of Woodpecker fans who are female’
(Black, 2010). Similarly, in 2006, Diageo launched a new maletargeted 16 fl oz (455 ml) spirits and mixer glass, designed for
‘a larger spirits measure and longer drink’, following research
which claimed that the highball glass typically used for spirits
and mixers was ‘too feminine’ for male drinkers (Cran, 2006).
as the standard and 250 ml as the large size, pubs increase
both volumes and profits’ (Publican’s Morning Advertiser,
2001). A 2004 article declares that small glasses ‘give the impression that the pub doesn’t take wine seriously,’ and that
‘getting customers to ‘go large’ in glass size not only improves
the experience, it’s also a tremendously efficient way of cranking up profit …[which] could potentially add thousands onto
the bottom line’ (McFarland, 2004). In the same year, articles
quote a survey claiming that use of the 125 ml glass had
dropped to 4% in pubs, and that usage of the 250 ml glass in
hotels had doubled (Caterer and Hotelkeeper, 2004). However,
later figures in 2008 suggested that the 125 ml glass was still
dominant in sports and social clubs (54.5% of wine sales)
(Wilmore, 2008), and one 2010 article predicted a return to
125 ml as the standard measure size in line with tougher government action on responsible drinking (Lane, 2010).
DISCUSSION
DRIVING SALES
Several articles claim that changes in glassware can drive up
sales, by reviving interest in a brand among existing customers
or by recruiting new customers (Lewis, 2010b). The introduction in 2002 of Stella Artois branded glassware into 8,000 UK
pubs was claimed by its then producer Interbrew UK to have
increased sales by 9.7% year on year (McFarland, 2002).
A new design of chalice glass in 2009 to complement the
launch of ‘Stella Artois 4%’ was associated with a claimed
14% increase in sales compared with outlets which used older
glasses (Lewis, 2009; Turney, 2009). Some articles claim that
new branded glassware can not only increase sales but also
profit margins, because 37% of customers would be prepared
‘to pay more for a pint in a branded glass’ (Foottit, 2010).
SIZE MATTERS
Particular attention is paid to the size of the glass and how this
can best be manipulated to increase sales. Several articles
discuss a move towards ‘over-sized’ (more than a pint) beer
glassware to allow beer to be served with a continental sized
large head (Publican’s Morning Advertiser, 2003, 2005; Ridout,
2008). A two-thirds of a pint ‘schooner’ glass was introduced in
2011 with the hope that it would ‘help revive sales of alcohol,
which fell by 13% in 2010’ (Frewin, 2011), and enable licensees ‘to cash in on the excitement and interest that the new
serving size can bring to the beer category’ (Gerrard, 2012).
Since 1995, the legally permitted measure sizes for wine by
the glass in the UK have been 125 ml, 175 ml and multiples
thereof [prior to this, no measure size was stipulated, but the
125 ml ‘Paris goblet’ tended to be the most used in licensed
premises (Caterer and Hotelkeeper, 2000)]. In 1996, a spokesman from Carlsberg-Tetley brands urged licensees to call 175
ml a ‘standard’ glass and 125 ml ‘small’ and noted that: ‘You
would think I was pretty tight if I offered you a small glass of
wine, wouldn’t you?’ (Caterer and Hotelkeeper, 1996).
Similarly, in 2001, licensees were advised that ‘The basic step
is to move from 125 ml glasses to 175 ml. Greene King saw
wine sales increase by 20 per cent in six weeks after it cleared
all the 125 ml glasses out of its tenanted estate…With 175 ml
Our findings suggest that, far from being merely a functional
vessel, the glass has come to be an integral part of marketing
activity. The role of the glass as a marketing tool has been
hinted at in previous research—a previous analysis of alcohol
marketing strategies (Hastings et al., 2010) noted that
Smirnoff recommended ‘chunky glassware’ as a means of implying greater alcoholic potency—but this is the first time the
glass has been examined in detail from a critical marketing
perspective. Like a cigarette, the glass is a particularly intimate
form of marketing because it is held in the hand and is integral
to the moment of consumption (Ford et al., 2013). The study
shows that the glass is used as a means of communicating
brand values and enhancing the drinking experience, recruiting new segments to a particular drink category, reviving
interest in a brand, complementing the launch of new products
and building market share.
The industry sources quoted in the paper suggest that producers and licensees clearly regard the glass as capable of affecting consumers’ attitudes and influencing them to drink and
spend more. Evidence from experimental studies on glass size
and shape confirm that these can affect perceptions and behaviour (White et al., 2003; Wansink and van Ittersum, 2005;
Attwood et al., 2012). A consistent theme in these studies is
that consumers are often unable accurately to assess how
much alcohol a glass contains or to pour a given measure correctly, with certain types of glass size and shape causing particular uncertainty. For example, Attwood et al. (2012) found
that participants underestimated the true half-way point of a
curved glass to a greater degree than that of a straight glass,
while Wansink and van Ittersum (2005) found that both students and experienced bartenders poured more alcohol into
short wide glasses than into tall slender glasses when asked to
pour a standard measure. Inability to distinguish volume may
encourage over-consumption: one study found that alcoholic
drinks were consumed 60% more quickly from a curved than
from a straight glass (Attwood et al., 2012).
Several areas of action are suggested by this study. From a
public health policy perspective, it is clear that the glass is as
much a part of the marketing mix for alcohol as advertising,
sponsorship, packaging and product design, and should be
subject to the same scrutiny and control. At a time when
alcohol suppliers’ involvement in public health is highly
Glassware as an alcohol marketing tool
contested (e.g. Gillan, 2013; Gornall, 2013), this may be an area
where responsible publicans could play a legitimate role. One
obvious step would be for licensees and producers to adopt and
promote smaller measures. The Public Health Responsibility
Deal in England includes suggestions that on-trade premises
reduce the normal measure in some categories: for example, for
wine ‘make 175 ml glasses the default serving size and increase
use of the 125 ml serving’ (Department of Health, 2013). These
recommendations could go further. A behavioural economics
experiment demonstrated that, in a menu with three drink
options, removing the smallest size led to ~25% of consumers
who had previously picked the middle size switching to the
largest because they were reluctant to choose the smallest available option (Sharpe et al., 2008). This suggests that wine glass
size norms could be shifted downwards from the more popular
175 ml and 250 ml measures by increasing options at the
smaller end of the range, such that 125 ml is no longer the smallest, and therefore undesirable, choice.
Sobal and Wansink (2007), discussing environmental influences on diet, suggest that mundane features such as plateware
exert an ‘often unconscious influence on food choices’ and
propose that positive ‘re-engineering’ of these environmental
cues could help encourage healthier diets. Glasses could be
similarly re-engineered: the same kind of attention which is
currently lavished on the presentation of alcoholic drinks
could be paid to non-alcoholic drinks served in licensed premises, so that they too are offered in attractive branded glasses
which make consumers ‘feel better about their choice of
drink’. At the same time, glassware for alcohol could be
re-designed to encourage safer drinking, for example by
deploying shapes that convey a more accurate impression of
volume, or by adding marks to indicate units of alcohol, as has
been recently implemented by Heineken (Heineken UK,
2013); however, the possibility that unit marks may in some
cases encourage consumption would need to be thoroughly
investigated before recommending this for widescale adoption. It has been shown that a ban on traditional glassware in
nightclubs can reduce injuries from alcohol-related disorder
(Forsyth, 2008); the possibility that such a measure may also
reduce brand appeal could be investigated. Echoing the move
to plain packaging of cigarettes is the time approaching for a
debate on standardized, non-branded, measure-marked glassware imprinted with large harm-reduction messages?
Acknowledgements — The authors acknowledge the contribution to the wider project of
their collaborators Prof Marcus Munafò, Dr Angela Attwood and Dr Alia Ataya of the
University of Bristol, and Elizabeth Fuller and Kevin Pickering of NatCen Social
Research; and thank Prof Gerard Hastings for his advice on the manuscript.
Ethical approval — Ethical approval was not required for the study.
Funding — This work was part of a ‘Scoping and feasibility study to develop and apply
a methodology for retrospective adjustment of alcohol consumption trend data’
supported by the Public Health Research Consortium (PHRC) which is funded by the
Department of Health Policy Research Programme. The views expressed in the paper are
those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Department of Health.
Conflict of interest statement.
None declared.
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