This company profile of Heineken reveals the unethical practices of the world’s second largest beer producer. It provides examples of harmful methods across the categories of political interference, promotion, sabotage, manipulation, and deception – the Dubious 5 strategies.
Introduction
Heineken N.V. is the world’s second-largest beer producer. It is a Dutch multinational alcohol company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- Dolf van den Brink is the CEO of Heineken since July 2020.
- The Heineken brand portfolio consists of over 170 beer brands such as Heineken, Amstel, Cruzcampo, Affligem, Zywiec, Starobrno, Tiger, Red Stripe and Birra Moretti.
In November 2021, Heineken NV took over Distell Group Holdings Ltd, a South African wine and Spirits company for €2.2 billion, creating a new regional group to compete with larger rivals AB InBev and liquor giant Diageo Plc.
Fast Facts about Heineken in 2023
- Total revenue: €36.4 billion
- Operating profit: €4.44 billion (BEIA*, 2022)
- Marketing spending: €2.73 billion
- Lobbying spending (EU): €200,000 – 299,999 (2022, EU only)
- Total volume beer sold: 242.6 million hl
- Global beer market share (volume): 13.6%
- Number of employees: 89,732
- Worldwide operations: 72
*BEIA, Before Exceptional Items and Amortization
In 2023 alone, Movendi International has already reported on 10+ stories exposing harmful and unethical practices by Heineken around the world.
Heineken involvement in front groups
Heineken pays a host of front groups to conduct lobbying on the behalf of the Dutch beer giant.
- International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD),
- The Portman Group,
- World Brewing Alliance,
- The Brewers of Europe,
- The International Brands Association,
- The World Federation of Advertisers,
- European Round Table of Industrialists,
- Re-Source Europe,
- World Economic Forum, and
- Consumer Goods Forum.
Interfering in policy and science
Heineken front groups are designed to advance long-term public relations goals to interfere in both policy and science.
UNETHICAL PRACTICES by Heineken
Political interference, Promotion Expanding Harm – How the Alcohol Industry Targets Emerging Economies
Big Alcohol’s relentless push for expansion is focused on so-called “developing markets” – a term the industry uses to ...
Manipulation, Promotion Heineken’s 0.0 Strategy – A Trojan Horse for Alcohol Marketing
Heineken is once again pushing its “smart drinking” narrative, using its 0.0% beer to create the illusion of corporate responsibility. ...
Sabotage Beer at What Cost? How Heineken and AB InBev Exploit Mexican Communities
The brewing giants Heineken and Grupo Modelo (controlled by AB InBev) are driving down barley prices for farmers in Mexico’s Altiplano ...
Political interference Alcohol Industry in Kenya – Hypocrisy Exposed as ABAK Fights Environmental Legislation
The Alcoholic Beverages Association of Kenya (ABAK), representing some of the world’s largest alcohol companies, is now fighting proposed ...
Deception Heineken in Sri Lanka – Undermining Alcohol Taxes to Protect Profits
At a panel discussion in Sri Lanka, Heineken Lanka repeated a familiar Big Alcohol tactic: claiming that higher alcohol taxes fuel illicit ...
Manipulation Heineken’s Salvador Campaign: Misleading Messaging for Younger Demographics
The concept of “responsible consumption” has long been a tool for Big Alcohol to deflect accountability for the harm caused by their ...
BROWSE MORE UNETHICAL PRACTICES by Heineken
BIG ALCOHOL IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Whisky brands are very reliant on a small number of heavy, and increasingly ageing, consumers, to provide the majority of volume [...] in the longer term we had to attract more younger drinkers—the heavy- using loyalists of tomorrow [to avoid] the potentially disastrous implications of losing heavy drinkers”.
“If Miller Lite was to be a large profitable brand we had to attract these young heavy drinkers”.
To the extent [that laws or regulations or actions against us to substantially curtail the consumption of alcohol, including beer] gain traction, they could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results. For example, the European Union published its Europe Beating Cancer Plan. As part of the plan, by the end of 2023, the European Union has indicated it will issue a proposal for mandatory health warnings on alcohol beverage product labels."
Source: Molson Coors Annual Report 2022
