What’s With All the Offensive Names For Booze These Days?
In reference to yet another great American booze controversy, the question has been asked – should manufacturers of alcoholic beverages like Five Wives Vodka be allowed to sell products with names that an overly uptight society will find offensive? While most booze hounds encourage it, some state lawmakers are saying “no.”
Earlier this year, Utah-based Ogden’s Own Distillery, which produces Five Wives Vodka, gained some national recognition when the state of Idaho got its panties in a wad over the bottle’s label depicting 19th century women in petticoats holding cats between their legs. The state was worried about the label being offensive to women, Mormons, and possibly even cat lovers so they outlawed the sale of the beverage.
So why are booze manufacturers giving their beverages potentially offensive names with sexist innuendos?
Most of it has to do with the booze market being so heavily saturated with competition that it is hard to get noticed. Many manufacturers have decided to pull out the heavy artillery by utilizing dark, politically incorrect, potentially offensive humor as a means for helping their bottle stand out in a crowd among all those drunkards with discriminatory tastes.
The truth is, most of the people who find these products offensive will likely never take a swing from the bottle anyway, but they certainly do help generate attention. Very few people had ever heard of ‘Ogden’s Own’ until a couple of whiners started complaining – now millions have heard of the once elusive Five Wives Vodka.
Meanwhile, you cannot buy a Dirty Bastard in Alabama, good luck finding a Polygamy Porter in Utah, and just try getting your hands on a bottle of Führer Cabernet anywhere in the country.