Moa Brewing Company has ruffled feathers once again, this time with a billboard which read "Fifty years ago before there were lesbians this is what beer tasted like". A complaint about the ad to the Advertising Standards Authority has been settled, after the advertiser said the ad was no longer used and there was no intention to use it again. "P. Armstrong" had complained that the ad was "extremely offensive to lesbians and gay people in its implication that, same-sex orientations are a recent phenomenon and therefore a matter of choice or fashion, same-sex orientations and relationship are associated with a decline in standards, tastes, authenticity and in particular (by implication) with a decline in masculinity". The Advertising Standards Authority noted the complainant's concerns and decided the complaint was settled, as the ad had been removed and would not be used again. "On this basis the Chairman said that it would serve no further purpose to place the matter before the Complaints board," the decision reads. It comes almost a year after a Moa campaign which suggested low carb beer drinkers are queer, by giving away t-shirts which said "Low Carb Beers", with the a pink 'Q' superimposed over the letter 'B' so it read "Qeers", promoting the fact that Moa's brews are "full strength". The campaign was pulled after a significant backlash.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 12th November 2011 - 4:52pm