The history of using sex to sell alcohol is a long one, though back in the day things were much more innocent and above board.
The innocent St Pauli Girl stepped out of the label and onto poster back in the seventies and old St. Pauli became less and less saintly as the century ended. The buxom überblond with the foaming glasses appeared in a promotional calendar in 1977 and she's gotten sexier by the year.
When I was a kid the Scottish brewer Tennents were the flag bearers of the sexy tinnie.
The first Lager Lovelies were quite demure but things quickly got down and dirty...
In the States young men were driven to distraction by the White Rock Nymph, a comely maiden rather lacking in clothing - a logo, incidentally that has only changed once since her arrival in 1894. She's still one of the sexiest images in packaging even after the Britney-ficated photo version - See?
Subtler directions are taken by vineyards, and the best sexy vino right now has to be Cleavage Creek, who get your attention with elegant and beautiful women and then hit you with their mission statement.
Owner Budge Brown and Cleavage Creek are dedicated both to making exceptional wines and to fighting breast cancer. 10% of the gross proceeds of all wine sales are donated to breast cancer research. Absolutely brilliant!
Others available for your private cellar include Gambrinus Rose - which gets away with ribaldry because of a 'work of art' status - the drawing is by Raymond Coumans. And of course you can always count on the Aussies to spice things up in the name of art and inebriation! And of course you can just say it straight.
In the UK the Advertising Standards Authority are cracking down - the newly tightened regulations reflect government concern over Britain's binge drinking problem and also underage drinking.
New rules, as well as banning links between alcohol and social or sexual success, also forbid linking alcohol with irresponsible, anti-social, tough or daring behaviour, showing alcohol being handled or served irresponsibly and so-called "kidult" advertising - showing drinkers behaving in a juvenile way or "reflecting the culture of people under 18". The first ad to fall foul of the rules was pretty tame...
Down in Brazil the pregnant hotty thing has gotten way out of hand though... Nova Schin have been doing things to stir debate for a while now and are pushing hard to market in Europe. But, hey, maybe it is cool to drink while pregnant in Brazil (though this is the payoff- the beer is non-alcoholic).
But this is pretty tame when you come across Rubbel Sexy Lager - a pretty good Belgian beer lost in the lowbrow marketing. Yes, the label is fully interactive - you can scratch off her swimsuit!
In Belgium there's a lot more where this came from - strange from a nation where the best brewers are monks.
Now where are my beer goggles...
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