Labeling offense in eye of consumer
Words can wield a wealth of power. Shakespeare's rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but words can draw your nose or turn it up.
Take a Utah distillery's Five Wives Vodka - its label depicting women in old-fashioned dress slightly lifting their skirts - whose sale was briefly banned in Idaho for its offensive name. Product names used to be straightforward; the name of the maker, the name of product, or an appeal to suggest quality or engender trust. Not anymore; with increasing appearance and little relation to the product are labels meant to satirize, elicit a chuckle, or even insult.
That's hardly new to the liquor industry. Consider Happy Ending Imperial Stout beer (label with winking geisha), Blasted Church Vineyards, and Monte dos Cabacos wine (mountain of virgins). What's a little weird about the Five Wives reaction is that it isn't the first label to take a jab at the topic in Idaho. Two more are already sold in the state: Polygamy Porter (also of Utah) and Polygamy Ale. Why ban vodka and not beer? Or was it the skirts? Multiple women appear on the porter label, too; and they're not modestly dressed.
One man's funny is another man's pain. State liquor officials take notice, and not only in Idaho. Michigan's Liquor Control Commission banned Flying Dog's Raging B---H (they didn't leave out the middle letters) ale. Somehow Nicebrew got away with Easter Memorial Brew (with more than the bunny on the cross). There are several more explicit examples I can't share in this paper, yet they're sold without a squawk; while others are more controversial, such as Lost Abbey's Witch's Wit (beautiful witch burned at the stake).
Be these wit or offense, they aren't limited to alcohol. In London a pair of Chinos pants is marketed with a washing label that caused quite a stir this spring. After normal washing instructions, it says, "Or give it to your woman; it's her job." The resulting Twitter outrage went viral.
In Toronto someone bought a dark colored couch made in China. The tag had a racial slur, describing the product as - I can't say it - "(something) brown." Complaints were met with a response from the Chinese company blaming it on the translation software. The manufacturers didn't know what the word meant in English; the computer's software picked it.
Maybe that was an accident, but most aren't. A California college banned the sale of incense and other products with explicit sexual names, after some students and faculty complained. Others at the school said they found the products funny.
Offensive is in the eye of the beholder, although I can't find a consistent thread to define it. The Five Wives label passed the federal licensing agency's requirements, but the state agency, after receiving complaints, banned it because it is offensive to a significant segment of our state's population.
"One of these days, Alice ... POW! Right in the kisser!" The refrain from the popular TV show, "The Honeymooners" jumps to mind. Where is the line between fun and foul? In the '50s that line elicited laughs; few today are so unaware about the costs of domestic violence to think it funny. A few years made a big difference in society's understanding.
Maybe that's the key: compassion. We need to be able to laugh at our own foibles; a sense of humor makes life bearable and adds perspective. It's another thing to laugh at someone else's expense.
Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone New Network. Email [email protected]