Anheuser-Busch InBev, Hands
This print ad caused quite a stir when it appeared, as right wing forces battled pro-gay individuals in phone calls to the company.
It was not the first gay-specific advertising from Anheuser-Busch. The "Be Yourself" tagline already ran for over a year, with images such as a Bud Light bottle decked out in rainbow beads, sunglasses and a stovepipe hat. In early 1996, the company began running a campaign with the line, "Labels belong on beer, not people," in national gay magazines and has had a presence ever since.
The ad was among few that depict a touching gay couple and was the first one from Anheuser-Busch.
Anheuser-Busch, along with Miller Brewing Co., have the distinction of being among the few companies that advertises in gay media and also have a mainstream media commercial with a gay theme.
Beer companies are well represented in The Commercial Closet, largely due to an effort in the mid-1990s to pull away from the industry's longterm sexist advertising themes that objectified women. Such commercials were summed up by the Swedish Bikini Team ads from Stroh Brewing Co. for Old Milwaukee. Looking for new material to mine, brewers began extensively playing with gay and transgender themes in their advertising. However, because beer drinkers are stereotypically macho, the tone of many of the ads were more negative.
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