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Beers and Babes, the Belikin Formula
posted (October 27, 2014)
Let's face it: no one ever went broke selling beer hawked by scantily clad women. And by now, Belikin has it down to a "T." But more than just a gimmick - as the beer of Belize faces a tougher lineup of imported brews than ever before - the calendar has become a key marketing tool in emphasizing Belikin's Belizean-ness.

The calendar been around now for 14 years, but, arguably, the most successful edition was last year's, when the production team launched the behind-the-scenes videos.

Riding last year's wave, they were under pressure to reproduce or out-do that success. So how did they do? Well, we found out at the 2015 launch on Friday night:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
Once again, the seemingly unending line of fans fanned out to the far edges of the room, each person with their calendars eager to get them signed.

A simple formula, really: bare bodies of bikini clad women, and beer - it's something Belikin has perfected over the calendar's 14-year run. And on launch night, the fans got their brief chance to interact up close with the 12 women chosen to be the 2015 models.

From there, these ladies will end up adorning walls - their fame metered out in monthly portions,

To keep it fresh, this year's calendar was built around a sports theme, with a big-name photographer.

Juan Carlos Cuellar - Digital Media Coordinator, B&B
"David Bergman is a sports photographer, he shoots for Sports Illustrated and he's gotten many of the covers for the football and what we wanted to was to incorporate his skill into the calendar, so for example if you are looking at the jet ski shot, we had the girl go out on jet ski and we were in a chase boat and we were full speed alongside and he was able to get the shots quite sharp and beautiful. We also did it for basketball, we had Tiffany on a trampoline just to get to kind of get rid of that amount of air that she looks like she is way up there. We did it for football as well; Norielli for November, she is playing the football and the shot actually got her flinging the football in the air - it really looks nice. Bergman was quite the perfect fit to our sports action theme for this year's calendar."

Victoria Canul - Miss January 2015
"I did boxing and that was very interesting because I've never done it before and I even got to hit the photographer."

Audralee Enriquez - Miss August 2015
"I played pool which was actually the first time that I played this sport, but I was confident about it and I win it and eventually I got it together, so it was okay."

Martha George - Miss May 2015
"When it comes trying to smile and you are shy, they always do something to make you laugh even if you don't want to, and so it was really good."

Norielli Sandoval - Miss November 2015
"It was awesome. It was everything I expected. I had fun. The crew was amazing and it was like the best experience ever."

But as just as the calendar continues to dominate local machismo culture, so too does it attracts criticism from conservatives who think that it exemplifies the mainstreaming of public hyper-sexualization. No matter how artful the company makes the calendar, the belief is that bare bodies shouldn't be so prominently featured and publicized, because of the overt commercialization of sex.

The directors and models strongly disagree.

Juan Carlos Cuellar - Digital Media Coordinator, B&B
"Really, there is anyone who takes issue with an independent, intelligent and beautiful woman expressing herself in the medium that we have then clearly the issue is with them and not with the Belikin Calendar and the girls are proud of what it is they do, their friends and family supports them and we are happy that they are a part of the Belikin brand."

Audralee Enriquez - Miss August 2015
"Everyone is entitle to their own opinion, but my opinion is whether you are a size 2, 12 or a 22, you are supposed to be very confident in the skin that you are in because no one can do you better than you."

Martha George - Miss May 2015
"Because we are in a bikini, it doesn't mean we are sexualize. I just think it's like a swimsuit, it's just something that you are going to use for something exciting and you are going to swim and stuff like that - using swimsuit doesn't mean you are exposing your body."

Victoria Canul - Miss January 2015
"I am me and I do what I want. I accept negative comments, but that doesn't bother me. I am stronger than that and I know what I am doing and I know where I am going, I know where my head is."

Norielli Sandoval - Miss November 2015
"I come from an island which is Caye Caulker, so I am always in swimsuit. I am a mom, my baby is one and I didn't feel exposed, I felt comfortable."

But if there is one thing that holds true, it is that beers and beautiful women will never be an unpopular or money-losing proposition.

Audralee Enriquez - Miss August 2015
"Representing Belikin is representing all things Belizean, so I was simply elated."

Juan Carlos Cuellar - Digital Media Coordinator, B&B
"A lot is on the line; my reputation is on the line, their reputation is on the line and that of Belikin Beer is on the line and we wouldn't do anything to tarnish that, so we only put out the best in the most professional manner."

Martha George - Miss May 2015
"I had so much fun. They had you do so many things. It's exciting and things that I've never done like on the ATV, I've never drove that before in my life, but it was really fun."

Norielli Sandoval - Miss November 2015
"If you feel like you could do it, just go for it because it's really nice."

The photographer for the 2015 edition was David Bergman, who has worked with Sports Illustrated and is also the official photographer of the Rock Band, Bon Jovi.

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