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Ala. ban of wine with nude label is marketing boon
Southeast Missourian ^ | July 31, 2009 | Phillip Rawls

Posted on 08/01/2009 11:28:45 AM PDT by Graybeard58

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...


TOPICS: Food; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: marketing; naked; wine
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1 posted on 08/01/2009 11:28:45 AM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: Graybeard58

“My Cousin” wine, however, will continue to be sold in Alabama stores.


2 posted on 08/01/2009 11:30:36 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist ("President Obama, your agenda is not new, it's not change, and it's not hope" - Rush Limbaugh 02/28)
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To: Graybeard58
I've seen 1000x worse at the local Museum...


3 posted on 08/01/2009 11:31:14 AM PDT by Dallas59 ("You know the one with the big ears? He might be yours, but he ain't my president.")
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*


4 posted on 08/01/2009 11:31:41 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3 (Obama is everything Oklahoma is not.)
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To: Graybeard58

I think Alabama might be the most puritan state in the U.S.


5 posted on 08/01/2009 11:31:45 AM PDT by napscoordinator
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To: Dallas59

GASP! The horror!


6 posted on 08/01/2009 11:37:47 AM PDT by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
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To: Dallas59

I’m in ‘Bama. I don’t see anything wrong with that particular depiction of the ‘human form’, myself. Actually, I’ve seen a lot WORSE that has been considered ‘art’.


7 posted on 08/01/2009 11:38:02 AM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear (Obama. Clear and Pres__ent Danger.)
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To: Graybeard58

I was born and raised in Alabama...this is pretty typical of how the state’s priorities are so out of whack.

I’ve seen this wine bottle at the store and never really even noticed the nymph is naked. Who cares.

In the meantime, Birmingham has turned into a thug-filled crime den too dangerous to visit during most hours. A good chunk of the politicians are under federal indictment and/or are in jail. Jefferson County is broke. The economy is in the tank.

But, hey, let’s focus our efforts on a random $12 bottle of wine.


8 posted on 08/01/2009 11:40:38 AM PDT by AUJenn
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To: AUJenn

I recently moved to Huntsville and have no complaints. I’ve been all over this country and Alabama is about like everywhere else. If anything I worry about losing regional variation. I actually find this thing with banning bottles with the nude figure kind of quaint and charming.


9 posted on 08/01/2009 11:45:12 AM PDT by Yardstick
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To: Yardstick

I love Huntsville! We actually just moved from there a couple years ago (against my wishes - had to leave for husband’s job). It’s my second-favorite place I’ve ever lived. It is nothing like Birmingham, Montgomery or Mobile. Much more tame! Do you work for the arsenal?


10 posted on 08/01/2009 11:48:10 AM PDT by AUJenn
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To: Drango

Alabama........

Well, we now know where their priorities lie.


11 posted on 08/01/2009 11:59:10 AM PDT by mono
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To: AUJenn

I sure do work for the arsenal. You mention that Huntsville was your second favorite place to live — what was your first?


12 posted on 08/01/2009 12:02:47 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: napscoordinator

I was in flight school at Fort Rucker AL in 1971. The post was surrounded by dry counties; local cops liked to nail Army personnel living off post for bringing home adult beverages they had bought at the Class Six store. They literally lurked outside the main gate.

That summer the Alabama legislature passed a law stating that general fund monies resulting from liquor taxes collected in wet counties, would henceforth be for the benefit of wet counties only.

Any update on this?

Anyway, that has to be among the most innocent depictions of the naked female form. Only “September Morn” could be as harmless. So what’s so wrong with the beauty of the female body?


13 posted on 08/01/2009 12:16:46 PM PDT by elcid1970 ("O Muslim! My bullets are dipped in pig grease!")
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To: AUJenn
I've been through Birmingham about 5 different times in as many different years and every time they have some serious highway construction going on. Is that a perpetual thing there?
14 posted on 08/01/2009 12:19:48 PM PDT by Graybeard58 ( Selah.)
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To: Graybeard58
I live in Alabama, and I love the state; however, it never ceases to amaze me at some of the most ridiculous things that the state's representatives do. The problem is that 50% of the state is composed of Baptist fundamentalists and Pentecostals. This ban is nothing but hypocrisy, purely for show. From my observation, and by the number of illegitimate children we have in this state and the brisk business at the liquor stores, this whole issue demonstrates how hypocritical people can be. I doubt that more than a handful of people are actually offended by this naked nymph. If fact, I have to wonder, if Baptists don't drink, how would they know?
15 posted on 08/01/2009 12:31:20 PM PDT by Nosterrex
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To: Graybeard58
A 2006 Syrah? Gawd! That alone should be sufficient to ban its presence in the country...but I'll take the girl.

"...I could feel hot flames of fire roaring at my back
As she disappeared, but soon she returned
In her hand was a bottle of wine, in the other, a glass
She poured some of the wine from the bottle into the glass
And raised it to her lips
And just before she drank it, she said:
Spill the wine and take that pearl, Spill the wine and take that pearl..."
- Eric Burdon and War, "Spill the Wine"
16 posted on 08/01/2009 12:32:06 PM PDT by PowderMonkey (Will Work for Ammo)
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To: AUJenn

I totally agree with you. It’s no different than the US congress devoting its time to discussing the BCS or the steroids issues. When you can’t deal with the important or controversial issues, create an issue. Does anyone actually believe that any of these politicians are offended by the naked nymph? This is nothing but a bunch of horse manure.


17 posted on 08/01/2009 12:39:51 PM PDT by Nosterrex
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To: Graybeard58

All this started with 79 year old chairman of the ABC board, Emory Folmar, who as mayor of Montgomery once raided an adult clothing store wearing full police garb, and arresting the old lady running the store. He also defended the cities ban on sex toys on a talk radio show, telling a woman caller to sit on a clothers dryer if she wanted a vibrator. His polical views are to the right of Adolf Hitler, and managed to escape scandal dispite a long term affair with another woman.


18 posted on 08/01/2009 12:52:16 PM PDT by SonnyBubba
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To: Graybeard58

All this started with 79 year old chairman of the ABC board, Emory Folmar, who as mayor of Montgomery once raided an adult clothing store wearing full police garb, and arresting the old lady running the store. He also defended the cities ban on sex toys on a talk radio show, telling a woman caller to sit on a clothers dryer if she wanted a vibrator. His polical views are to the right of Adolf Hitler, and managed to escape scandal dispite a long term affair with another woman.


19 posted on 08/01/2009 12:52:16 PM PDT by SonnyBubba
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To: Graybeard58

All this started with 79 year old chairman of the ABC board, Emory Folmar, who as mayor of Montgomery once raided an adult clothing store wearing full police garb, and arresting the old lady running the store. He also defended the cities ban on sex toys on a talk radio show, telling a woman caller to sit on a clothers dryer if she wanted a vibrator. His polical views are to the right of Adolf Hitler, and managed to escape scandal dispite a long term affair with another woman.


20 posted on 08/01/2009 12:52:21 PM PDT by SonnyBubba
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