It has been described as 'outrageous' and 'disgusting'. But a bride at the centre of a photograph that sparked controversy in New Zealand says she cannot understand what all the fuss is about.
When bridal model Katrina Hayman was snapped swigging from a bottle of beer while she was backstage at the Taranaki Bride of the Year competition, she probably didn't give it a second thought.
However, when a newspaper decided to publish the picture on its front page, it sparked outrage from the organisers and other members of the public who thought the image portrayed the event in a 'terrible' way.
Bridal booze: Katrina Hayman was pictured swigging from a beer bottle during the competition. But not even she could have imagined the furore it would cause
The show's organisers have demanded an apology from the Taranaki Daily News editor while other readers and online commentators described the photo as 'disgusting'.
Others questioned why the competition's winner was not given the front page coverage instead.
However the woman at the centre of the 'scandal' has been left bemused and said the controversy would probably never happened had she conformed to stereotype and sipped from a glass of wine instead.
Hayman told the Taranaki Daily News: 'I mean that is just the type of person I am. I don't like to portray myself as someone I am not.
'A lot of females drink beer and it's just I felt more comfortable having a beer than having a wine.
'So what if I enjoy a Tui over drinking wine and I haven't hurt anybody doing that. Only a lot of jealous people would be negative, at the end of the day we are meant to be ourselves.'
Marital problems: Katrina, pictured left taking part in the competition, and, right, enjoying a beer with her husband Simon
Cheers! Katrina said she had received a lot of support from her husband and family since her photograph appeared in the paper
In a follow-up interview for the paper's website, Hayman said she did not think the photograph showed her in a bad light.
She added: '[The photographer] caught me being me, and that's worth more than dollars or cents at the end of the day. If I feel like I want to have a beer I'll just have one, whether I'm in the right place or not.
'I knew it was going in to the newspaper, but I didn't know it was going on the front page. I was stoked, over the moon.'
Lynn Gilbert-Smith wrote, in a letter to the Daily News: 'As I am sure many would have preferred to have seen a photo on the front page of the winning bride of the year, rather than a free commercial for Tui [the beer manufacturers].'
In a follow-up interview for the newspaper's website, she added: 'It was a beautiful show. We don't care whether the girls were drinking beer, wine or whatever.
'It was just the way the newspaper published this [picture]. There was no issue with Katrina drinking the bottle of beer. The issue is, at the end of the day, how you portrayed what we thought was a very special event.'
The newspaper has received a mixed response from its readers. Some have criticised the way Katrina looked, others have agreed with the event's organisers while a handful of comments give their support to Hayman.
One user, called Karyn, posted: 'Hilarious. Good on you Katrina, seriously who gives a stuff! You would think people have never seen a bride drink beer before!'
Jaimie Pettigrew added: 'I was a beer drinking bride. People tried to make me put the beer down for photos,' while another said: 'Clearly it's a surprise to some people that not all women drink champagne with their pinky finger out.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2144722/Katrina-Hayman-Photo-bride-swigging-beer-branded-disgusting.html#ixzz1uxxZ1w9S
