Robert Dyas Gay/Bi/Straight vs Red House Black & White furniture

A chain of hardware shops in the UK wants you to know they're ready to serve you, whether you're gay, straight or bi. In fact their range of gay, straight and bi sales staff will be more than happy to help. What's going on, and where did this bonkers piece of communication come from?

The answer is one for Badland; Robery Dyas has entirely ripped off a US commercial for Red House Furniture entitled "Black and White People Furniture?". It's a carbon copy, following the formula exactly, but substituting US racial compartmentalisation (Black/ White/ Hispanic) with more relatable UK issues of basic sexual orientation.

While the general internet reaction seems to be a muted WTF, some are annoyed that issues such as sexuality are even of relevance in 2015. Thus, they argue this ad is hopelessly behind the times. One response is that Dyas is highlighting this point exactly, making one aware of the irrelevance of sexual orientation when buying drills and Christmas lights. Perhaps that's what they were going for, perhaps they are just shamelessly plagiarising, or more likely just chasing viral hits to make money. Y'know, like businesses do, straight, gay, or whatever.