Villagers depicted in an advertisement for Guinness whooping with joy as a pint appears in their remote Andean home had never heard of the brand, do not like it and would prefer a glass of lager.

Inhabitants of Iruya, a settlement high in the mountains of northwestern Argentina, were nonplussed when they were invited to take part in the £10 million advert – the most expensive in Guinness’s history.

Some 1,000 locals are shown cheering as a domino run incorporating tumbling cars and furniture goes through their village, but few of them were even aware of Guinness and it is not served in any local bars or restaurants.

Vicente Apaza, 32, a receptionist at the Iruya Inn where some of the film crew stayed, said that villagers favoured local brews such as Quilmes or Salta. “People here prefer lager,” he said. “There is a local stout but it’s what we’d drink after the blond beers are finished.”

The only foreign imports are Heineken and Budweiser, he added.

“Guinness is not on sale anywhere in Iruya and I must say I’d never even heard of it before. The crew handed round one or two cans to villagers before they left, but mine are still in the fridge. I tried some, but didn’t really like it, so I think they’ll stay where they are as a keepsake.”

Guinness credits the advert with reviving the fortunes of the brand in Britain and Ireland, but admits that the residents of Iruya had not been inspired by the five-week shoot. Paul Cornell, marketing manager for the brand, said: “Sadly the village does not have the infrastructure to support our draught products, but Guinness is available in other parts of Argentina.”

César Luis Arturo, 36, a café owner who appeared as an extra in the commercial, said that tourists hoping for a glass of Irish stout would be disappointed: “Since the advert, people keep arriving to have a glass of Guinness in our village, but we cannot give them what they want. We had great fun when it was filmed, but now we are famous for something we don’t have.”

The advert, called “Tipping Point”, begins with one domino setting off a chain reaction. It ends with a sculpture made from black and white books that resembles a pint of Guinness being poured. Mr Cornell said that he had sought a timeless location rather than somewhere where Guinness is actually consumed: “The remoteness and high altitude combined with the gradient of the village made it a perfect location.”

The advertisement took three domino experts two days to set up and incorporated 6,000 dominos, 10,000 books, 400 tyres, 75 mirrors, 50 fridges, 45 wardrobes and 6 cars.

One pair of British tourists said that they had travelled thousands of miles to the village, after being inspired by the advert, only to find that there was no Irish stout on offer.

Jackie Green, 48, an office worker from Liverpool said that she and her husband Phil wanted to brag about having had a pint in the village.

“We were struggling to figure out where to take our next holiday then we saw the ad and thought it would make the perfect pilgrimage. Phil was very disappointed.”

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