Marketing Beer to Women

I recently read something about the beer industry and how they market to customers. Primarily, beer is marketed to men. Advertisement for beer has a very masculine feeling to it whether its Keystone's "Keith Stone" or Dos Equis' "Most Interesting Man in the World". Beer has never been directed towards women and I myself am under the impression that the majority of women don't enjoy beer as much.

An article in the London Free Press writes about the demographic and lifestyle assumptions that go into marketing beer to women. One type of beer they mention is called Uptown Girl. This beer is a light beer that comes in a slightly smaller bottle and contains minimal calories. First of all, this beer directly refers to women in the name. This makes it look specifically for women. The slightly smaller bottle is there to make the beer less filling. This refers to an assumption made by beer companies that women cannot drink as much beer as men. Also, this beer only has about fifty calories, which is a very low amount for beer. This assumes that many women are conscious of the calories they intake.

If this marketing strategy works then its great for beer companies. After reading these changes made to beer based off these three assumptions I wonder, do these changes made assume to much of women and could these stereotypes be seen as offensive to women?