Heineken Tackles Online Sexism By Swapping Social Media Accounts Of Football Pundits

Former England international football players turned pundits, Jill Scott MBE and Gary Neville, tasted life in a different dugout as part of a Heineken® social experiment entitled, “The Social Swap” aimed at addressing gender bias when it comes to women sharing their opinions about football on social media.
‘The Social Swap’ 

Co-created by agencies LePub and Edelman, “The Social Swap” saw Scott and Neville secretly switch social accounts for five days to share their genuine views on matches, from team rivalries to match predictions. The only catch? Scott was posting from Neville’s account, and Neville was using Scott’s account.

The experiment acted as a reminder of football’s journey to become more inclusive, with Scott’s account receiving five times more sexist responses compared to Neville’s when sharing similar points of view and commentary online. Example responses to the pundits’ posts during the swap illustrating gender bias:

This short film directed by Caswell Coggins via production house Prodigious Italy features Scott and Neville discussing the experiment, including some of the sexist reactions from social media users.

Neville said, “The heated debates and rivalries are what makes football so exhilarating. But when negativity is linked to gender, this goes too far, especially from behind a screen. By putting myself in Jill’s shoes and seeing the reaction, I have seen first-hand the uglier side of this sport that I love and want to make it clear that football is for everyone. On the pitch and online, we should treat each other with respect no matter our gender, race, sexuality or what color shirt we’re wearing.”

Bruno Bertelli, Global CEO LePub, Global CCO Publicis Worldwide, CCO Publicis Groupe Italy, said, “I really hope this project will boost visibility towards football’s wrong and stereotypical assumptions. The social swapping between Jill and Gary, demonstrated that we necessitate a more progressive attitude to gender equality. When it comes to football--the world’s most popular sport--we can’t any longer turn a blind eye to these types of behaviors. It must be a welcoming environment for all. With this campaign Heineken has taken a clear stance and a new step towards demonstrating that a mindset change is needed."