The Good
No doubt about it, the funniest thing that I saw this week comes to us directly from Ed Thralls of Wine Tonite fame. Most of you have probably seen me talking about the Wine Bloggers Conference that is taking place in Walla Walla Washington this summer. Ed has issued a call to hip-hop artist and wine video blogger Sadat X to make an appearance at the conference. For those of you not familiar with Sadat’s body of work, I give you this sample (warning: contains a wee bit of profanity) -
I actually reviewed the Cusumano Nero D’Avola for one of my early reviews on the blog, and I only found the f%$^ed up factor to be a six, but to each his own. Anyway, here’s my man Ed laying it down-
The Bad
The wine world lost one of it’s biggest innovators this week, and no, I’m not talking about Malcolm McLaren (via Cherries and Clay). This week Thomas Angove, the inventor of the boxed wine, passed away. Mutineer Magazine has a great retrospective on this figure who has played such a large role in the lives of college students, middle aged housewives, and trailer park denizens everywhere. RIP Tom.
The Ugly
In an absurd marketing move that could only be rivaled by the Twilight wine package, the wine world was rocked, that’s right, rocked by the announcement of the Hello Kitty line of wines. This is one of those dumbfounding products that is difficult to even comment on. Even now, I look at the words that I am typing, and am at a loss for what to say about it. Luckily for you, Jeff from Good Grape didn’t have the same problem. He posted a really interesting piece exploring the marketing philosophy that Hello Kitty Wine might be embodying. You should also check out this article from the LA Weekly Blog.
Ed’s bit was on of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while. He may be up for an April Honor award from me. I didn’t read Jeff’s Hello Kitty article, now I have to do it – thanks for the link!
P.S. I’m going to have to think of something pretty magical to get back in this list. Maybe I’ll drink wine in my undies (oh, that’s already been done DAMN).
Josh
Yeah, Ed is cranking out some great videos these days. I’m expecting bit things from him in the coming months.
It has been tough deciding on what goes into this post recently. So much good stuff out there. I think you are still probably in the all-time lead for mentions here, although Randy had quite a few early on. I miss that guy.:)
RIP Thomas Angove. I own the domaine TrailerTrashSommelier, I should host a memorial at the KOA. No disrespect intended.
LOL, I like it. I know, I had a hard time trying to balance making that section a little funny, while being respectful to Mr. Angove. He honestly made some major contributions to the wine world, and will be missed. Happily, he lived a long life.
Hello Kitty wine is one of the scariest and most irresponsible products on the market right now. I really thought it was a great April fool’s prank, wish that’s all it was! It’s really advertising alcohol to kids, on a level even Joe Camel would cough at!
Yeah, pretty crazy stuff. I think you bring up a great parallel. I remember people freaking out about Joe Camel and the like, and yet this seems like a far more clear example of using a child’s character for marketing an adult product.
woo hoo! cracked the code at work.
I have the good fortune of getting to hang out with Ed regularly. Great host, great guy, loves wine and learning more about it. We discussed his new focus on videos, and the efforts show.
As far as “the ugly” goes, I’ve seen nothing lower than “Ed Hardy” wines.
Glad you finally beat the system!
Ed seems like a cool guy, looking forward to meeting him (and hopefully you) at WBC. His videos have been kicking so much ass, I’m glad he’s been doing them.
You are right, Ed Hardy is the worst, but you gotta admin, Hello Kitty is pretty bad too.
I wonder if the Hello Kitty wines will get the boot by the gov’t for appealing too much to the underaged, much like the now-defunct Joe Camel. Or is there a double-standard between wine and tobacco?
Yeah, I’ve wondered the same thing. Seems like an even more obvious example of youth marketing than Joe Camel. Will be interesting to see if there are any challenges for the brand in the future.