Pascale Thorre has worked in diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) roles for over a decade. As a passionate advocate for the work, she is responsible for Heineken’s DEI strategy and helping the brand become the most inclusive sponsor in global football.
Unfortunately in 2024, gender bias remains prevalent. You can see it in the gender gap in leadership positions, and of course in many sporting arenas.
In fact, 82% of women in football have faced discrimination at work. To me, that is staggering.
At Heineken there is a belief that working on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), both internally and in our marketing efforts, is not only the right thing to do, but it’s also good for business.
It’s a part of our core purpose: “Brew the joy of true togetherness to inspire a better world”. And for me, that means working out ways to foster a sense of belonging.
Our emphasis on inclusivity inspired us to create the "Social Swap" campaign, an initiative that aims to combat gender bias in football fandom.
A hat-trick of wins
As a sponsor of both the Women and the Men’s UEFA Champions League for many years, we saw firsthand the negativity women face online. We knew we had a responsibility to use our platform to champion inclusivity, not just within the sport, but in society as a whole.
The campaign offers solutions to challenges, for instance on visibility, showing more diverse fans and footballers.
In fact, we’ve used our voice to raise awareness on this topic before.
In 2022 we launched our “Cheers to all fans” campaign offering a fresher perspective on football.
We wanted to celebrate all football fans equally, at the same time raise awareness around issues preventing everyone from enjoying the game equitably. The campaign offers solutions to challenges, for instance on visibility, showing more diverse fans and footballers.
In 2022 we also launched “Fresher football” an initiative correcting football search results to include Women’s footballing achievements which is currently overlooked by search algorithms.
I really enjoyed this one as it looks a lot at our use of language. For example, why do we say “football” and “women’s football”? This initiative provides responses to the most popular questions asked online about the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Women's Champions League, and answers them based on often-overlooked key data around the women’s game.
In 2023, we launched the "Social Swap" where we asked two international footballers-turned-pundits, Jill Scott MBE and Gary Neville, to swap their social media accounts and post as one another. Jill’s posts were shown under Gary’s account, and vice versa.
A “red card” for negativity
The results were shocking. Jill's account received five times more negative and sexist comments, despite Gary being the one posting on it, than Gary's account.
Throughout the video you see Gary reading out comments sent to him whilst posing as Jill, including: “Save your opinion for what to make for dinner.” It shows only too clearly the gender imbalance in football fandom, and also how important it is to call this behaviour out. We have the opportunity of such broad reach, as a long standing sponsor of UEFA, to use our platform for good and challenge with initiatives like the Social Swap, all with the aim to refresh perspectives.
But this campaign isn’t just about raising awareness; we want to also offer tangible solutions to the issue when we can.
Alongside the video, we worked with Arwen AI. It’s an AI tool that filters negativity from your social feed.
The impact was immense. The Social Swap alone has generated more than 1 billion impressions and sparked crucial conversations about gender bias.
I feel it also solidified Heineken's position as a leader in driving positive change in football and beyond.
We were keen to use YouTube to host the video in this campaign, as it is a platform that enables conversation. I think it acts as a catalyst for change within the DEI space by democratising voices, fostering global connections, and providing a platform for education and advocacy.
From diverse creators challenging stereotypes to communities mobilising for change, YouTube offers a space where representation, awareness, and calls to action can drive a more equitable future.
Keeping an eye on the ball
But our work with tackling gender bias doesn't stop with marketing campaigns.
Internally, we're committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and respected. So far, we've trained 99.8% of our people managers on inclusion and established a network of DEI practitioners across our global operations.
We're actively working to increase the representation of women in leadership and build a diverse talent pipeline.
I'm incredibly proud of what we've achieved so far. We’ve been recognised by the World Economic Forum as a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Lighthouse for the Women in Sales initiative. And we’ve been included in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index for our work on DEI.
But the journey continues. We remain committed to using our voice and platform to challenge stereotypes and create a more equitable world, both inside and outside Heineken.
