MrsSpringsteen
Blue Crack Addict
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/12/02/santa.beer.ap/index.html
The lawsuit was brought by the Maine Civil Liberties Union, which says the beer labels are entitled to First Amendment protection.
"There is no good reason for the state to censor art, even art found on a beer label," said Zachary Heiden, staff attorney for the MCLU.
The label for the English-made Santa's Butt Winter Porter features a rear view of a beer-drinking Santa Claus sitting atop a barrel. The beer's name refers not only to Santa's ample backside, but also to the barrel. In England, brewers once used a large barrel called a "butt" to store beer.
Maine also denied label applications for Les Sans Culottes, a French ale, and Rose de Gambrinus, a Belgian fruit beer.
Les Sans Culottes' label is illustrated with detail from Eugene Delacroix's 1830 painting "Liberty Leading the People," which hangs in the Louvre and once appeared on the 100-franc bill. Rose de Gambrinus shows a bare-breasted woman in a watercolor painting commissioned by the brewery.
In a letter to Shelton Brothers, the state denied the applications for the labels because they contained "undignified or improper illustration."
They honestly think that would appeal to children? And who really cares about nudity or sexuality or whatever on liquor labels in the grand scheme of things, I am way more offended by Britney's PDV
I understand concerns about liquor ads appealing to underage drinkers (some blatantly do), but this isn't the same thing and it seems to me it's an attempt at humor and double entendre that's aimed at adults. Worry more about drinking prevention programs for teens and parental involvement than you do about Santa's butt. I never thought of labels being classified as art, but maybe they are
If it hangs in The Louvre it must be.
The lawsuit was brought by the Maine Civil Liberties Union, which says the beer labels are entitled to First Amendment protection.
"There is no good reason for the state to censor art, even art found on a beer label," said Zachary Heiden, staff attorney for the MCLU.
The label for the English-made Santa's Butt Winter Porter features a rear view of a beer-drinking Santa Claus sitting atop a barrel. The beer's name refers not only to Santa's ample backside, but also to the barrel. In England, brewers once used a large barrel called a "butt" to store beer.
Maine also denied label applications for Les Sans Culottes, a French ale, and Rose de Gambrinus, a Belgian fruit beer.
Les Sans Culottes' label is illustrated with detail from Eugene Delacroix's 1830 painting "Liberty Leading the People," which hangs in the Louvre and once appeared on the 100-franc bill. Rose de Gambrinus shows a bare-breasted woman in a watercolor painting commissioned by the brewery.
In a letter to Shelton Brothers, the state denied the applications for the labels because they contained "undignified or improper illustration."
They honestly think that would appeal to children? And who really cares about nudity or sexuality or whatever on liquor labels in the grand scheme of things, I am way more offended by Britney's PDV
I understand concerns about liquor ads appealing to underage drinkers (some blatantly do), but this isn't the same thing and it seems to me it's an attempt at humor and double entendre that's aimed at adults. Worry more about drinking prevention programs for teens and parental involvement than you do about Santa's butt. I never thought of labels being classified as art, but maybe they are
If it hangs in The Louvre it must be.
