The 90s Were More Progressive Than We Thought: Gay Guinness Ad

Queerty unearthed this Guinness ad from 1995 featuring a gay twist at the end. This was pretty progressive for the time. The only other gay ad from the 90s that we can recall was the IKEA one. But IKEA is already Gay Furniture Central so that wasn’t a huge jump showcasing one of their key demographics. Even back then. But this is a beer ad!

“There was a desire by the agency and Guinness to have a certain ambiguity about it,” advertising pro Tony Kaye said about the 1995 spot. “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.”

Before you admire the spot too much, it was never aired on television. We can imagine why. They wouldn’t even show a gay kiss on Melrose Place! The fight for equal rights and visibility continues, but we’ve definitely made some strides.