Heineken Links Alcohol and Self-Care in Marketing Push
Posted on April 11, 2025 in Heineken, Promotion, CambodiaHeineken has launched a skincare product called Smootheriser, a “beer-based cream” marketed in a can designed to resemble Heineken Silver. According to the company, the product contains the same ingredients as the beer and is aimed at men. The campaign is positioned as a blend of “humor” and “innovation” meant to increase brand engagement.
The product is being launched in Taiwan and Cambodia, alongside the rollout of Heineken Silver in those markets. It’s not just a new product – it’s a strategic brand extension using lifestyle marketing to normalize and promote alcohol consumption through non-alcoholic channels. By packaging the brand in a skincare product and framing it as self-care, Heineken is engaging in health-washing – using wellness language and aesthetics to soften the image of a product that contributes to significant global health harm.
Stretching alcohol brands onto new products is not a new strategy. Heineken has a history of extending its brand into non-alcoholic products and experiences, often targeting younger demographics and markets with strict alcohol advertising regulations. These initiatives serve to maintain and expand brand visibility, even in contexts where direct alcohol promotion is restricted.
Heinekicks – Beer-Branded Sneakers
In 2022, Heineken collaborated with designer Dominic Ciambrone to release “Heinekicks,” sneakers containing beer-infused soles. Marketed as a fusion of fashion and beverage culture, this product aimed to engage Gen Z consumers in markets where traditional alcohol advertising faces limitations.
Heineken Racing Game
Heineken developed a mobile racing game promoting its “When You Drive, Never Drink” campaign. While ostensibly advocating for responsible behavior, the game prominently features Heineken branding, effectively marketing the brand to younger audiences under the guise of public safety messaging.
Heineken 0.0 Campaigns – Normalizing Beer in Everyday Settings
Through campaigns like “0.0 Reasons Needed”, Heineken normalize their brand in everyday settings, potentially easing the path for future alcohol consumption.
These examples illustrate Heineken’s strategic use of brand extensions to maintain relevance and visibility, often blurring the lines between promoting responsible choices and subtly marketing their core alcoholic products.
This follows a growing trend where alcohol corporations link their products to wellness, grooming, and cultural relevance – despite the well-documented health risks associated with alcohol. Skincare and alcohol are fundamentally incompatible, but Heineken uses this contradiction to attract attention and strengthen its brand among younger consumers.
The move reflects a wider industry tactic: using novelty and crossover marketing to distract from health concerns and reinforce brand presence in emerging markets. As alcohol regulation grows in parts of the world, companies like Heineken are shifting focus to regions with fewer restrictions and more opportunity for growth.
Promotion, or any marketing strategies, is Big Alcohol’s activity to drive alcohol availability and acceptability, to perpetuate the alcohol norm, and to place alcohol at the center of people’s thoughts and preferences, communities’ practices, and societies’ customs. The focus of this DUBIOUS FIVE strategy is the people and their beliefs about alcohol products, the public and their attitudes about and behavior around alcohol products, and the consumers and how much, how often they buy and consume alcohol brands.