Guinness Tells Beer Drinkers How To Not Look Gay This St. Patrick’s Day
Foster’s says it was spoofing homophobia, not endorsing it. Miller Lite was riffing on gender stereotypes. And Guinness? Well, it just proves that the only creativity beer makers’ ad agencies have left is to exploit some weird insecurities their target demographic harbors. In this St. Patrick’s Day “man hung” spot, Guinness explains how men can have the appropriate level of intimacy with another dude without looking all faggy. Keep enough distance. Don’t nuzzle a man’s hair. And then find a lady while uttering “no homo” under your stank breath.
Guinness is brewed in Ireland. However it is owned by British multinational Diageo (who also own Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Seagrams etc). Diageo also own Red Stripe lager – the Jamaican brewed beer. It got into hot water some years ago from gay groups because of its sponsorship of a Jamaican music festival which featured homophobic dancehall acts.
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Why do beer and ale ads have to be so straight-male centric anyway? I and plenty of other females drink just as much of it as men. I’ve seen lots of straight men guzzling down “lite” beer after beer, which just tastes like bubbly water to me, while I’m drinking some dark ale. Why should something you drink or eat be so gender-specific?
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You guys are pushing it a bit too much. The Fosters ad was offensive but this fits under the “Whatever” category, IMO. It’s kinda “cute”, especially when they two men are rubbing all each other and I just found it playing more to the guys who drink dark ale beers.
What I find amusing about it, though, is I’d bet the farm both of those actors are homosexuals.
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stupid commercial…but with gays accusing straight guys of being secretly gay by all their actions..what else would you expect?
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OK, I’m probably the biggest hypocrite in the world, but that ad irritated me. I actually liked the Fosters ad, but this one just seems illogical. If you’re so scared that hugging a guy is going to make you gay, then don’t fucking hug a guy.
It reminds me of the old joke: What is the difference between a straight Marine and a gay one?
A six-pack.
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Kieran : Advertising, period, has gotten horrible I agree. Even in the U.S. they’ve taken classy icons like Mr. Peanut and make them act like horrible obnoxious snots in their latest ads. I’m wondering if they know just what they’re doing? Make a commercial annoyingly stupid, and it will catch the attention and still put the product in your head. Didn’t those awful Mentos commercials increase Mentos sales like five times over?
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What everyone defending this ad and the Fosters ad fail to realize is that it is establishing that something is wrong with homosexuality, showing two men uncomfortable and damn near hostile to male-male affection because they are afraid of appearing gay.
If that isn’t homophobic and anti-gay, I don’t know what is.
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@QuestionAll: No, it’s not. It’s affirming those hangups. Gays are thrown under the bus.
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@TheRealAdam: Let us know when you find a beer ad you approve of — so we have a better idea of what meets your standards.
If, like me, you’re not a beer drinker, pick any other ad at all. So far everything disgusts you & throws you into a dysphoric mania. Does anything in the world make you laugh other than us idiots?
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@Ryan: Thanks for clearing that up (for you, at least).
@QuestionAll: There’s no two ways to see this. These ads are aimed at straight men, and they are ridiculing the appearance of male homosexuality. There are no ads like this for straight women.
The ads are homophobic. Period. They are and always will be.
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@TheRealAdam: Of course there are two ways to see it. You see it one way, and other people see it another way. Q.E.D.
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Adam, you’re either a troll or one of the most narcissistic and arrogant people on the internet. This commercial isn’t about you. Most straight guys don’t give a fig about you. This is just mocking straight guys and their fear of physical intimacy.
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This is not about gays. Calm down everyone, back to your lives. I behave similar to this with my straight guy mates. Stop letting gay rule your world. I came out at 14, and promptly…got on with my life. You should too!
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@Phil: Horse poo! A big, stinking pile of horse poo!
Who taught straight men (and gay men, for that matter) that it isn’t OK to get close to each other? Society and it’s rotten, disgusting homophobia aimed at men. This ad simply capitalizes off that homophobia.
You are speaking in absolutes about straight men and that is simply not true.
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Guinness once made the cutest ad showing a male couple at home. You can look it up on YouTube ( type in “Guinness” “gay” ). But their research showed it was just a little TOO progressive for the Guinness institution, so they had to scrap it. Either way, Ireland’s homo-acceptance is growing by leaps and bounds every year, which is cool.