The new spot follows previous ads from Guinness such as Sapeurs in telling the stories of unusual characters, who also happen to round off their days with a pint of the black stuff.

Here, Guinness documents the somewhat poetic tale of The Compton Cowboys, who include main protagonist Keenan Abercrombie. Abercrombie and his friends rescue and care for horses that are largely headed for the slaughterhouse, and also ride them around the streets of LA.

While Compton may now be better known for gang culture, when it was formed in 1888 there was a stipulation that a portion of the area remain agricultural. Richlands Farm is the legacy of this stipulation, an area in the middle of LA with around 50 small ranches, where people care for horses and other farm animals.

In a longer version of the ad, below, Abercrombie and his friends go into more detail about what their lives were like before they became city cowboys, and how the horses have changed their outlook and behaviour.

The Guinness spot follows a recent photographic project by Cian Oba-Smith, titled ‘Concrete Horseman’, which also tracks the long tradition of black horsemanship in the United States.

Credits:
Agency: AMV BBDO
ECDs: Alex Grieve, Adrian Rossi
Creative directors: Steve Jones, Martin Loraine
Social creatives: Julia Merino, Scarlett Montanero
Director: Henry Alex Rubin
Production company: Smuggler
Editor: Kyle Valenta at Cartel