Diageo, Mess
A hunky, young guy gets ready for work, making a mess all along the way. After his bath, magazines and other articles float in the water. Selecting his clothes, he sniffs then rejects the shirt by tossing it onto the floor.
Meanwhile, a rubber-gloved hand picks up after him. As he runs out the front door, coffee cup in hand, he passes his boyfriend, whom we see for the first time, and the Tammy Wynette tune "Stand by Your Man" swells. He puts the mug atop his car and gets in as his boyfriend wearily waves goodbye, the mug clunks to the ground, and the ad closes with a glass of Guinness beer.
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 is deeply unfortunate that the spot never aired, as it regularly gets standing ovations at live Commercial Closet screenings to gay audiences.
Ironically, Guinness also markets Bass Ale in the U.S., a brand which is advertised in the gay press. Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing Co. have the distinction of being among the few companies that advertise in gay media and also has 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. 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 often negative.
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I love Guinness beer myself, but it would add so much respect to this ad if this ever ran. Now IJulianna think everytime I zip a G, it is missing something...
The ad also raises the question why the guy in white stays in love with a man who apparently doesn't appreciate his efforts. This is reinforced by the peck on the cheek that apparently has left the man in white conflicted enough that he doesn't point out the coffee cup on the roof. And the last image of rubber-gloved fingers moving in a small, slow wave reinforces an unenthusiastic partner.
I am still conflicted about this ad. It was beautifully shot with interesting images. But I am still exploring the meaning it creates.
Thanks a lot! Commercial Closet and Guiness! :)
The thing is, it's supposed to be playing with us at first. We think it's a woman picking up after the man, because the traditional gender stereotypes rooted in our minds tell us so. The quote says that "men and women are totally different" -- because look at that guy and his wife, they're like opposites!
But that's where it surprises us. The wife is actually a man, too. Gotcha. And when it says "not everything in black and white makes sense", it's talking about the afore quoted statement somebody wrote, that it's too simple and doesn't make sense in reality because -- and here's the whole point -- two people of the same gender can be just as different, or more different, than two people of "opposite" genders. And, only thinking about what men are like as opposed to what women are like is too black and white. That's the double meaning in there. I don't think there's any hidden gay-negative tone to it.
Generally I don't see this as representative of gay people or homosexual relationships so much. That's not really the main issue.
Man, I've grown to like this a lot more than I initially did!
The Guinness ad gets a "B" in my book.
Some say it's too cutesy and righteous, well there are thousands of people like that out there. That's not to say that everyone's nice and innocent, but plenty of people are.
I don't see how it's any different from the heterosexual world. There are plenty of both negative and positive images in the media of heterosexuality, which is true to life.
I do not support corporations with anti-gay policies or corporations who "fear" the spending power of the less intelligent heterosexual and bow down to the ignorant credit card-holding bigot. I am constantly being informed through advertising that I am wrong, that I should be different and have different values, and I am expected to accept all this and buy the product. My point is that I would prefer people to be offended by this type of action and act accordingly, it can make a difference.
And the black and white thing, I think it has a second meaning, saying that we should learn contrasts, there is not just good and bad. Black and white might also be male and female
However, what's more depressing is not being in a country where gay ads are banned but to know that an ad as wonderful as this, is being oppressed for fear of decline in profits or market share? I have never been a fan of Guinness as their ads have been "normal" and "unexciting" so far. This ad epitomizes individuality - different from others, yet it's not being aired and was even denied its existence.
I suddenly feel the need for a man to love in my life!..leave alone the beer!