The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2025
BRLO's Democracy Discount ties beer prices to AfD's vote share in Germany
For its 10th anniversary, Berlin brewery BRLO promised that the fewer votes the far-right AfD won, the less people would pay for its beer.
BRLO
What it had to solve
Berlin brewery BRLO was celebrating ten years of inclusive, norm-breaking beers and initiatives. With Germany's federal election approaching and the far-right AfD growing rapidly, BRLO decided to turn the anniversary into a statement rather than a party.
How it works
Berlin brewery BRLO was celebrating ten years of inclusive, norm-breaking beers and initiatives when Germany headed into a federal election with the far-right AfD growing rapidly. The anniversary could have been a party; BRLO decided it would be a statement.
The statement took the form of a price promise: 'If you open your hearts, we'll open our taps.' The fewer votes the close-minded party received, the less people would pay for BRLO beer — an election result converted directly into a discount.
Political posters and posts took over streets and feeds, taking the far right's slogans of hate and turning them into messages of love for openness and for beer. The work is catalogued in the D&AD awards archive as a campaign that fought right-wing populism with beer pricing.
Why it lands
- Pricing gave every drinker a personal stake: the stronger the far right did, the more the beer cost, turning an abstract election into a pocketbook decision.
- The promise was credible because BRLO had ten years of inclusive, norm-breaking form behind it, so the gesture extended a record instead of borrowing a cause.
- Reclaiming the far right's own slogans let the rebuttal live in a visual language everyone already recognised, so the counter-message spread without explanation.
- Mechanism beat manifesto: rather than telling Germans what to think, BRLO tied an outcome they could see — the price of a beer — to a vote they could cast.
What it did
The campaign made an election outcome legible at the bar: a far-right result would literally cost drinkers more, while posters and posts reframed hate slogans as messages of love across streets and feeds. The work is catalogued in the D&AD awards archive as a fight against right-wing populism fought with beer pricing.
What you can take
A brand can make its values the mechanism instead of the message: when the price itself encodes the stance, buying the beer becomes casting the vote.
Since then
For BRLO the anniversary ended as a public stance rather than a private celebration: beer pricing had been tied to the federal election outcome, giving drinkers a reason to follow the results and a brand to reward or punish. The work sits in the D&AD awards archive, remembered as an attempt to fight right-wing populism with beer pricing.
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