Let us say tomorrow, would you ban the production, advertisement and sale of rolling paper and tobacco, just because the act of assembling a hand-rolled cigarette resembles the act of rolling a marijuana joint? How silly does that sound?
Lets us discuss another illustration dealing with yet another imagery.
In countries where advertising liquor and cigarettes are banned, liquor and tobacco companies rely on massive surrogate advertising campaigns peddling products like bottled water, sports goods, which go by the same name as the liquor brand. Why do we see no protests against such advertisements, when the companies really want to do, is sell liquor.
Lets move away from adults for a bit and get younger. Remember when you were a boy, one of your prized possessions must have been any one of these three toys. Say a gun, a GI Joe or a war ship of some kind? Now is it ethical and correct to allow children to play with a gun as a toy? Shouldn’t it horrify parents that their child is playing around with an imitation gun today… What if tomorrow he develops an obsession for a real weapon?
You find this ridiculous don’t you?
The argument hinged on mere imagery posed by people and people’s groups campaigning against the new energy drink Blow, is as ridiculous as the one’s we have listed above.
One thing needs to be kept in mind here is that Blow is a drink for adults. And if adults are sane enough to vote for a head of state, they should surely be mature enough to make qualified distinctions between a good drink and bad drink.
The entire advertising campaigns designed by promoters of the brand intends to get this very same adult to the water. Whether the individual adult drinks it or not is a call he or she will have to make. No one can force the adult into making this final choice.
Whether you need a fake credit card to portion out the mix, or whether you really need a vial like container to store them, these are only the ridiculous frills which campaigners love harping about.
Because emotion and a lot of it, makes for a very eye-grabbing news story, while fact does not.
The controversy generated recently over the new launched high powered energy drink mix Blow has less to do with the product and unfortunately more to do the concept of imagery.
Blow energy drink comes with a thermacol lined pack, with a tag that says Blow Me. Open the container and in it find several packets, which contained carefully preserved vials containing the high power energy mix. Beneath, at the bottom of the case, you’d also find a fake credit card, with which you are meant to parcel out appropriate portions of the energy mix.
The bulk of the protests stem from the fact that the promoters of Blow have tried to brazenly glorify and subsequently encash on the notorious and socially abhorred imagery associated with the use of the addictive drug cocaine, which is also similar in colour and feel.
The protestors make a fine emotive point, but is there really enough for them to have a case.
