New Zealand Brewer Shows You How Not to Reference Gay Marriage on a Billboard

A harmless joke? Yeah right

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The latest Tui beer billboard from New Zealand's DB Breweries is a homophobic eyesore, according to feedback on the brand's Facebook page. Or else it's funny and people should get over it, also according to feedback on the brand's Facebook page. Tui's marketing manager claims the ad's headline—"Dad's new husband seems nice." "Yeah right"—is an innocent combination of the brand's iconic catchphrase with current events: New Zealand's parliament passing a Marriage Equality Act earlier this month. The ad was meant "to highlight the common situation or uncertainty experienced when someone's parent remarries," he says. In other words, the "Yeah right" refers to the awkwardness of a parent remarrying another, not just someone of the same sex. I don't think Tui meant any actual harm here, but the delivery was crap. If you have to explain a joke, that's proof that it bombed. That's not something you can blame on the audience.