Lion puts pink dollar at risk

By NATASHA HARRIS

The pink dollar buys a lot of beer, say staff at Auckland gay bars, and beer companies should try targeting that market rather than alienating it.

The suggestion follows the dumping of actor Richard Chapman from the "Red Blooded" beer ad series after Lion claimed that Mr Chapman's role as a gay character in TV3's The Strip "contradicted" his image in the beer commercials.

The beer company said the actor had breached an exclusivity contract forbidding other television work and that Mr Chapman's role in The Strip was only part of the reason why he and his two co-stars were sacked.

However, bar staff at Ponsonby's Surrender Dorothy, and Flesh, on O'Connell St, say the beer consumption by gays is huge and that beer companies are missing out by not marketing their products at them.

Staff at both bars said Heineken and Stella Artois were their biggest sellers, closely followed by vodka.

"Lion Red is pitched to a certain market and they don't want to upset the straight men by targeting us, but they really should because we're very brand loyal," a bar worker at Surrender Dorothy said.

"The gay market is a very, very lucrative market. People will spend a great deal of money on alcohol because they have the income."

Flesh barman Justin Meads said that for many gay men beer was the drink of choice.

"A lot of gay men drink a load of beer - they don't have kids so they spend their money on drink."

Staff at the nightclubs said they were disgusted that 26-year-old Mr Chapman was sacked and it appeared he had been victimised. It is believed the actors' contracts ruled out starring in other television commercials but not television dramas. Lion Red claims they have breached that contract.

The Surrender Dorothy worker said Lion Red had probably inadvertently boosted Chapman's career.

"Would your Lion Red drinker even make an association between Chapman and his gay role? This may be good for his career and so Lion Red may have done him a favour."

Chapman's agent, Gail Cowan, told the Herald that she had settled a cancellation fee on Monday after considerable difficulty, but declined to comment further.

She said Chapman was in the United Kingdom for a holiday for three months and that he did not want to talk to the media.