HuffPost: International Health Group Drops Partnership With Heineken Over ‘Beer Girls’
“An international health organization has suspended its partnership with the Heineken beer company because of the controversial use of so-called ‘beer girls’ to promote its products. The Global Fund launched a partnership in January with the Dutch brewer in its latest campaign to battle AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria in Africa. Heineken was to use its communications and logistics expertise to help shape effective messages, identify demand, and provide quality control in shipments of medical supplies, according to a Heineken statement…” (Papenfuss, 3/30).

NPR: ‘Beer Girls’ Break Up Global Fund/Heineken Party
“The Global Fund is pulling out of a controversial partnership with Heineken but not for the reason most cited by critics. Public health advocates had been blasting Peter Sands, the new executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, for backing a partnership with Heineken to ‘fight infectious diseases in Africa.’ Some activists said it was inappropriate for a health agency to align with a product that can be detrimental to people’s health. The Global Fund shrugged off that criticism for weeks. … In a short statement the Global Fund says Heineken is being cut off because of ‘the company’s use of female beer promoters in ways that expose them to sexual exploitation and health risks’…” (Beaubien, 3/30).