Freshfood Australia, The Great Straight Coffee

Freshfood Australia has gotten into trouble with the gay community over a New Zealand billboard ad for its provocatively named brand, Fagg's Coffee Company (after Wellington founder Alfred Fagg in 1926).

The pictures TV personality Gary McCormick enjoying a cup of coffee with the headline, "Not as Ponsonby as the name suggests" -- a reference to a gay neighborhood in Auckland, where it appeared. The tagline is "The great straight coffee."

Fagg's marketing manager James Ford dismissed the complaints, telling New Zealand's Advertising Standards Complaints Board the word "straight" was used to distinguish the product from other more pretentious brands. "We are straightforward," he said. "What you see is what you get, and it's common knowledge that there's quite a lot of coffees that take themselves extremely seriously."

Ford was quoted by GayNZ.com as saying, "It is certainly not our intention to cause offence to anyone with this advertising -- why on earth would we want to alienate or offend our customers? We do not consider our campaign to be homophobic -- it's for everyone -- it's not about sexuality but rather about an attitude toward life -- don't be too serious or pretentious."

Nonetheless, a minority of ASCB board members believed there was "no doubt the advertisement contained a double entendre which was derogatory." However, the majority agreed the term "fag" had various meanings, and the ad could not be said to cause either serious or widespread offence.

A complaint about the "homophobic overtones" in a second Fagg's advertisement, featuring television presenter Kerre Woodham, was not accepted, as the chairman ruled the board had already thoroughly canvassed the issues in the earlier ruling.