Fifteen years ago, Olgilvy & Mather Worldwide made for Guinness the greatest gay-themed TV ad ever filmed, but it never aired because British tabloids and conservative groups created a ruckus.
CommercialCloset.org has this to say about the ad:
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.
Here's another Guinness ad, which DID air, in which Irish actor Joe McKinney dances away, while the pint "settles," his anticipation of quaffing a Guinness. The bemused bartender is played by London actor Gordon Winter. McKinney quit drinking in 1997, after which Guinness apparently wanted nothing to do with him.
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