New Zealand brewery’s ‘beers for queers’ ad backfires

A New Zealand brewery has withdrawn a marketing campaign which suggested that low-carbohydrate beer is “queer”.

Moa Beers planned to give away t-shirts which said “Low Carb Beers”, with a pink ‘Q’ superimposed over the letter ‘B’ to read “Qeers”.

The company was trying to promote the fact that its brews are “full strength”.

However, the campaign failed to impress Facebook users, who responded angrily on the company’s page.

Some drew attention to a spate of reported LGBT suicides in America, although a small number said they were not offended by the t-shirts.

Responding, Moa Beers said: “Thanks for your feedback on our tees. They were meant to be lighthearted… We asked some of our gay mates and they thought it was funny, but I guess we should’ve asked a few more.”

GayNZ.com reported that Moa’s marketing manager admitted that the campaign was saying that people who drink low carb beer are queer but added that the company was concerned that it had caused offence.