Billboard brews up a storm in New Zealand

A beer billboard that offended many Christian groups in Hamilton is coming down almost as quickly as it went up.

The Tui billboards read: "Let's take a moment this Christmas to think about Christ. Yeah right."

Its message has received mixed reviews from Christians across the country. In Christchurch, one Catholic bishop said the ad was "great" and helped remind people about the meaning of Christmas, and a Methodist Church of New Zealand spokesman said the billboard made a good point.



But, in Hamilton, the joke was lost on Father Frank Eggleton, parish priest of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who labelled the provocative billboard "appalling" and said it demeaned the holiness and meaning of Christmas.

DB Breweries communications manager Gina Williams said that was the point of the billboards - that nobody took Christmas seriously any more.

"But it's obviously been taken the wrong way by some people so we will be taking them down. We don't do it very often but we see that this has touched a nerve."