Banned In Bama

The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board recently told stores and restaurants to quit serving and selling "Cycles Gladiator" wine, because it found the label (which features a 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."

Since the news of this story broke, visits to the website of Hahn Family Wines (the company that produces the wine) have increased tenfold. The increased interest this national exposure (pun intended) has generated has led the company to develop a marketing campaign featuring in-store displays that carry the slogans "Banned In Bama" and "Taste What They Can't Have in Alabama."

Great press for the wine label, lousy press for Alabama! I guess there are two things that bother me about the decision here. First, (and maybe it's just me and my mind is so filled with filth and so utterly corrupted) I don't find the label particularly sensual. And I would be hard pressed to find the act of nude cycling immoral (not that I am myself an avid nude cyclist).

Secondly, the label is from a popular 1895 French poster considered classic art by many. Originals of this poster sell for as much as $50,000. And while nude art seems to bother the ABC Board, other eintities of the Alabama government aren't as concerned. Museums across the state carry postcards from the Alabama Tourism Department that feature a photo of a 19th century nude statue. And Alabama's Capitol has two historic paintings that feature several topless female Indians. And, of course, there's Vulcan, the iron statue whose ass is prominently visible from much of the suburb of Homewood.

So, it seems like the "law" can be interpreted pretty loosely. And it's ironic that of several entities of the government that seem to disregard the rule, the booze board is the one that has decided to take the moral high road. That's good...there's nothing worse than a perverted drunk.