Ala. ban of wine with nude label is marketing boon
By PHILLIP RAWLS (AP) – 5 hours ago
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama's ban on a wine that features a nude nymph on the label became a business opportunity for a California vintner who is preparing a marketing campaign to capitalize on being "Banned in Bama."
The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board recently told stores and restaurants to quit serving Cycles Gladiator wine because of the label. Board attorney Bob Martin said the stylized, art-nouveau rendition of a nude female with a flying bicycle violated Alabama rules against displaying "a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner."
Bill Leigon, president of Hahn Family Wines in Soledad, Calif., said Thursday that visits to the company's Web site have increased tenfold since news of the ban broke late last week, and callers from across the country have been asking where they can buy the wine.
Because of the interest, he's developing store displays that say "Banned in Bama" and "Taste What They Can't Have in Alabama."
Hahn said he will never miss the 500 cases sold annually in Alabama. "There is going to be a significant increase in our sales," he predicted.
Rosanna Guardagno, a social psychologist at the University of Alabama, said a ban often increases people's interest in a product.
"The ABC Board, without realizing it, is going to boost their sales," she said.
The wine's label is copied from an 1895 French advertising poster for Cycles Gladiator bicycles. It shows a side view of a full-bodied nymph flying alongside a winged bicycle.
Martin said the ABC Board rejected the label last year, which meant the product wasn't supposed to be sold in Alabama. A citizen recently sent a bottle to the board to show it was still being sold in the state, prompting the letter to restaurants and stores to stop sales, he said.
Hahn's president said he was unaware of the ABC Board's rejection until the letter was sent to retailers. He said the poster is a classic piece of art, with originals selling for as much as $50,000.
Although nude art bothers the alcohol board, it's not a problem for some other branches of Alabama government.
The Alabama Tourism Department distributes a brochure with a cover featuring Hiram Powers' 19th century nude statue, The Greek Slave, which is on display at the Westervelt Warner Museum of American Art in Tuscaloosa. It is available in museums statewide, interstate highway welcome centers and visitors' bureaus statewide.
"We haven't had any concerns about it," Tourism Director Lee Sentell said.
And Alabama's Capitol has historic paintings on display, including two that show several topless female Indians.
Guardagno, who studies social influences, said people allow more freedom of expression in art than in advertising.
"With art, you have to be really explicit with how a person's body is displayed before people are offended," she said.
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If that picture is considered "obscene", then half the artwork in my city's art museum would be considered hard-core pornography if it was shown in Alabama.
Ha, I had a pretty decent beer from a microbrewery(I hate that term, but I hate it less than 'boutique brewery') in Sydney a few weeks back. The label had thermosensitive ink so that as you finished the cold beer, the buxom bikini-clad pin up girl on the label lost both her top and bottom. Cheers!
I wonder if the "Bitch" brand of wine is also banned in Alabama, or are swear words okay to put on our alcohol, it's just artistic nudity that's off-limits?
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DPDarkPrimus wrote:I wonder if the "Bitch" brand of wine is also banned in Alabama, or are swear words okay to put on our alcohol, it's just artistic nudity that's off-limits?
I have a sneaking suspicion that if you put on a picture of a muscular gladiator wearing a stars-n-stripes ensemble killing a bear with a sword, it would be perfectly fine.
Thirty years ago George Carlin complained about people using the term 'Sex and Violence', "...as if it were one word", noting that people lumped the two together as an offensive duo. Nowaday it seems that violence really has more public acceptance than sex in the US.
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My wife says it's a pretty good wine, I wouldn't know. I think it tastes pretty nice, but then again most red wines taste just fine to me. I bought a few bottles to try out since it has a cool bicycle theme and was on sale at the LCBO.
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Say, do you want it to be a threesome with your wife? Or a foursome with your wife and sister-in-law? I'm up for either.
I can see why. If I saw that wine, I would either die on the spot or rape someone, and I imagine it's the same for everyone else. It's for the best.
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A citizen recently sent a bottle to the board to show it was still being sold in the state, prompting the letter to restaurants and stores to stop sales, he said.
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless this Concerned Citizen for protecting Christian babies from this liberalhollywoodsecularjewhomersexuralagenda assault on Biblically sound American Family Values.
It's a known fact that someone could have died!
Honestly, is this the Alabama ABC's take on Conservative Backlash?
The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board recently told stores and restaurants to quit serving Cycles Gladiator wine because of the label. Board attorney Bob Martin said the stylized, art-nouveau rendition of a nude female with a flying bicycle violated Alabama rules against displaying "a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner."
Bill Leigon, president of Hahn Family Wines in Soledad, Calif., said Thursday that visits to the company's Web site have increased tenfold since news of the ban broke late last week, and callers from across the country have been asking where they can buy the wine.
This is what I call justice. Or a very cunning publicity stunt.
I remember what TP said about this: the only difference between pornography that is bad and Art is an urn.
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DPDarkPrimus wrote:I wonder if the "Bitch" brand of wine is also banned in Alabama, or are swear words okay to put on our alcohol, it's just artistic nudity that's off-limits?
I have a sneaking suspicion that if you put on a picture of a muscular gladiator wearing a stars-n-stripes ensemble killing a bear with a sword, it would be perfectly fine.
Thirty years ago George Carlin complained about people using the term 'Sex and Violence', "...as if it were one word", noting that people lumped the two together as an offensive duo. Nowaday it seems that violence really has more public acceptance than sex in the US.
Of course. Just look at video game labeling in the US. It is rated M if you brutally kill other people. But sex is rated Ao and won't be stocked by alot of stores.
That's a sweet looking bike, too. I wonder how much one of those runs these days.
I don't drink at all, so I wouldn't be concerned if Alabama banned all wines. Alcohol leads to public nudity, you know, and that's even worse! They just haven't gone far enough yet, but thank God that they are on His path. They'll get there one day.
DPDarkPrimus wrote:I wonder if the "Bitch" brand of wine is also banned in Alabama, or are swear words okay to put on our alcohol, it's just artistic nudity that's off-limits?
I have a sneaking suspicion that if you put on a picture of a muscular gladiator wearing a stars-n-stripes ensemble killing a bear with a sword, it would be perfectly fine.
Thirty years ago George Carlin complained about people using the term 'Sex and Violence', "...as if it were one word", noting that people lumped the two together as an offensive duo. Nowaday it seems that violence really has more public acceptance than sex in the US.
Of course. Just look at video game labeling in the US. It is rated M if you brutally kill other people. But sex is rated Ao and won't be stocked by alot of stores.
You can even get away with killing people non-brutally for anything except 'E'. In contrast, anything above a quick kiss without tongue or a hug will get you an M. Having someone (female only, males can look like Kratos and be fine) wearing clothes that expose the midriff or the like might even get you over the 'E' barrier, too. [oh and as far as I know it's almost impossible to make a non-M+ game wherein a character is homosexual beyond a hug or maybe holding hands or controversially a kiss, which is almost hillariously prudish].
America's game rating system is weird. Especially since 'AO' means 'banned' because nobody will sell those lest latchkey parents who don't look at what they buy for their kids throw a shitstorm.
The hilarious part is, and I can say this having drank Cycles Gladiator, that they really do need all the help they can get to sell their horrible wine. Seriously, the stuff's bad.
And yeah, my state's pretty goddamnd backwards.
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Man I hope they don't carry the 7 Deadly Zins. Around here that outsells 7 Heavenly Chardonnay. We can't even give that stuff away. Maybe if it didn't look piss yellow that would help.
