Apropos Of Nothing: 1995 Gay Guinness Ad Goes Viral

Nowadays having gay people in adverts is rare but certainly not unheard of (for example Lloyds TSB has recently been trumpeting the addition of a gay couple to their ads featuring weird looking CGI people), but back in 1995 it was seen as so controversial that a Guinness ad featuring two gay men wasn’t just pulled before it aired, but the company even went so far as to deny it ever existed.

Now the ad has gone viral, giving us a look at what could have been. The commercial has been seen by thousands since a report on it went live recently on Ad Respect, which looked at why it was banned. They say, ‘Artfully shot with the help of maverick California-based British producer Tony Kaye, the UK tabloid press widely reported the planned ad before it aired, to much scandal. Pubs and consumers were shocked that the traditional brand would air a gay ad.

‘Fearing greater backlash by straight consumers, the TV spot was ultimately dropped by Guinness. Later, the company tried to deny that this spot even existed.“There was a desire by the agency and Guinness to have a certain ambiguity about it,” Kaye told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in 1997 about the ad he created. “So that when you watch the spot, you said, ‘Well are these guys gay or not?’ These guys are gay — the storytelling, to me, needed him to give the other guy a little peck on the cheek.”

‘When asked why the company would deny the existence of the ad he shot, Kaye offered, “Most of them have the vision of a dead rat. I think it was charming and it was very funny and would sell a hell of a lot of beer.”

It’s certainly a rather sweet ad and it’s a shame it never aired, although in 1995 it would have definitely been a surprise to many to see two men give each other a peck on the cheek in an advert. It doesn’t hurt either that both men ad very good looking. Take a look at it above.