When Targeting can be a Turn-off

I was recently made aware of this current commercial in Mongolia for a beer brand called Jalam Khar (or Жалам Хар in the local language). This commercial shows first a woman and then a non-native Mongolia man trying to purchase the beer in a market. Neither of them are able to "catch" the beer and seem to be on a repeated attempt to try. However, a Mongolian man walks by and can easily pick up two bottles.




Clearly the brand positioning is Mongolian beer made just for Mongolian men. It also includes a higher than average alcohol content just to prove how manly you are. And sure, it complements the local Mongolian beer "Fusion" which is targeted towards women that features a lower alcohol content and an easier-to-open twist cap (it's actually designed so you can put the bottom of another Fusion bottle over the cap and use the bottom design to twist the cap off - likely made not to damage nails.)

This seems to be a little bit of a twisted approach on targeting a specific audience. We have many gender specific products in the marketplace, but the message is about how that product improves you (cooler, sexier, thinner, prettier, etc.) and not about how the product is for no one else other than you. And the inclusion of a non-Mongolian in the ad makes this approach feel a little xenophobic to me.

Sure, the Mongolian guy gets the beer but he doesn't get the girl or the non-Mongolian friend. What kind of consumer benefit is that?!? Drink this beer and you'll be buff and alone - but at least you're drinking a beer that's made just for Mongolian men.... I think a better approach would be to show an aspirational man or group of men drinking this beer, or a manifesto of what makes a man a real Mongolian man, or even tell me that if Chinggis Khan was still alive then this is the beer HE would drink. At least that's my 2 cents.