Bars reassess their relationship with brewing company after clip shows Liberal MPs ‘disagreeing most agreeably’ over beers

Coopers Brewery has come under fire for apparently involving itself in the marriage equality debate by collaborating with the Bible Society on a campaign “to reach even more Australians with God’s word”.

To commemorate the 200th birthday of the non-profit organisation – which has the slogan “Live light” – Coopers released 10,000 cases of a limited-edition Coopers Premium Light beer, emblazoned with different Bible verses.

The Bible Society said on its website that the Keeping it Light campaign was a bid to foster a respectful “national conversation”, which it said had become “fraught with shallowness and contempt for those who have a differing opinion”.

“From yelling matches on ABC’s Q&A to screed on Twitter, we just don’t seem to be able to talk any more … To speak into this, Bible Society Australia has teamed up with Coopers Premium Light to ask Australians to try ‘Keeping it Light’ – a creative campaign to reach even more Australians with God’s word.”

It released a video in which the Liberal MPs Andrew Hastie and Tim Wilson debated the issue of same-sex marriage. In the light-hearted clip, billed as the first in a series, the two “disagree most agreeably” over gay Australians’ right to wed while they drink a couple of Coopers Premium Light beers.

At the end of the discussion, the moderator, Matt Andrews, leads Hastie – billed as a “Bible-reading Christian” in favour of “traditional marriage” – and Wilson in a toast to the Bible Society, “keeping it light for 200 years”.

Though the campaign launched on 9 March to little fanfare, it was met with backlash as the video circulated at the weekend, with the #BoycottCoopers hashtag appearing on Twitter on Saturday.



sara scrutton (@sarascrutton) As part of a team that organises a festival, I will be seeking a #boycottcoopers decision, due to companies #homophobia #coopers

On Sunday, bars publicised their intention to drop Coopers as a result of its relationship with the Bible Society.

The Old Bar in Fitzroy, Melbourne, published a statement on Facebook that said it would no longer be buying any stock from Coopers. “It’s a sad day for us as over the many years we have built a strong relationship, yet after recent events it is very obvious that our values are at odds.”



A spokesman for the Old Bar said it was a “pro-equality” venue. “It’s not that we feel that Coopers have taken an anti-equality stance, [it’s] the fact that they have now very publicly aligned themselves with the church and the Liberal party we feel that’s at odds with us and our values.”

The Hollywood Hotel in Surry Hills, Sydney, said it would be “reassessing its relationship”.

Guardian Australia has contacted both the Bible Society and Coopers for comment.

In the first of two statements to media, the brewery said the video was “a light-hearted but balanced debate about an important topic within Australia”.

“As a mature community it’s a debate we need to have but in a good spirited and good natured way. That’s how we’ve done business for a 154 years.”

It said it was not trying “to push religious messages or change your beliefs” by celebrating 200 years of charitable work by the Bible Society, and that it had produced commemorative cans for a wide range of organisations in the past.

But in a second statement it distanced itself from the clip, stating that Coopers “did not … ‘sponsor’ the Bible Society’s ‘Keeping it Light’ video” nor give permission for its beers to appear in it.

“We respect the beliefs of our community and do not wish to try and change them. Our family brewery is made up of individuals from a number of different backgrounds, all of whom hold differing views on politics and religion, which we think is reflective of the wider community.

“We would like all Coopers fans to know that we support and embrace all of our beer drinking community.”

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The series is held up by the society as an example of the Bible’s teaching on powerful and productive debate: that “everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry”.

But critics have said that is disingenuous when the Bible Society opposes same-sex marriage.

Luke Robertson, a craft beer blogger based in Melbourne, wrote on Sunday that he believed that the video pushed “the anti-gay marriage stance under the guise of civil debate”.

He pointed out that, though it would be news to many Coopers drinkers, the Coopers Brewery Foundation had made no secret of its support of Christian values.

In the mission statement given in its annual report last year, it said one of its aims was giving to “improve and protect the quality of life of Australians by providing support to charitable organisations with recognised strengths in … fostering family and community support based on Christian values”.

Luke Robertson (@AleOfATime) Well... they tried. First statement didn't cut it. Second: let's just bail on this pic.twitter.com/KfToqJS35G

Reporting on the campaign launch on 9 March, the Christian news website Eternity News flagged that it could be “potentially controversial” for the Bible Society given the Christian community’s differing views on alcohol consumption.



Greg Clarke, the chief executive of the Bible Society, defended its accepting the “gift” of commemorative cans from Coopers, with which he said the society had “a very special relationship”.

“We recognise that Christians have different views on the consumption of alcohol and we are not here to promote alcohol. We’re both here to promote the value of the Bible; that’s really the point of the campaign.”