There is a little town in Northern California called Weed. In this little town there is a little brewery owned by an ex-cop named Dillman. Dillman the still-man capped his beer bottles with a little slogan. "Try Legal Weed."
This little slogan was a big deal according to the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. According to the regulators, (and a little law federal law prohibiting drug references on alcoholic beverages,) Dillman was guilty of a thought crime.
The claim was retracted, "...the agency's assistant director conceded that the phrase refers to the brand name of the microbrew and said it does not mislead customers by alluding to a slang word for cannabis."
Come on! "Legal Weed?" I don't think the slogan is a problem but to ignore the obvious reference and pretend we all don't know what they mean implies ignorance. Rewrite the law, don't ignore it, this sets a very dangerous precedence.
According to the article in the L.A. Times, "(Weed, California)...has been marketing the double entendre of its name for years, with gas stations selling 'High on Weed' T-shirts and a sign at the town's exit reading 'Temporarily Out of Weed.'"
Last year, Dillman won first place at a Sacramento brew fest with his "Shastafarian Porter."
People create art or logos depicting the abuse of power by police officers in urban areas, or something as harmless as a T-Shirt, do they get the same preferential treatment?
Maybe if they looked like this?
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6 comments:
I've been to CA a few times, but have never gotten to visit Weed. I do wish weed were legal though. It really should be. As for the beer, I'd try it.
Not that I disagree, or agree for that matter, but why would you wish that? What benefit do you think that would have on society, realistically?
From what I understand, the beer is normal beer. They just use the name of the city for promotional reasons.
In Ireland they had to create legislation to stop beer company's making beer/alcopops with teen friendly names. That would be the problem I would forsee not the fact it was advertising drugs.
Oh yeah! No doubt the marketing is geared toward the young. It would be "cool" to have a bottle with WEED right on the front. That's why people use names like Blazin420 and why a lot of people would originally drink Root Beer.
Its a status symbol. Sad sad children.
How very interesting: is it really that much more than a regional gimmic? Who wouldn't use a supposedly free market to capitalise on such a name? I'm sure there are other examples to be had.
AJN
http://adamjamesnall.blogspot.com/
>Adam: I am sure you are right. In fact I can think of many similar marketing ploys used by the makeup industry.
False advertising is illegal but there is no reason they can't brand their product with a similar sounding name.
Take those hyphen products that sound like miracle solutions. "Age-Away" and "Ener-strength." They aren't allowed to use the actual terms so they make up their own.
Can you blame them though? If people are stupid enough to buy it...then who should we really point the finger at?
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