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A Russian Imperial Stout label from a small brewery in Siberia is generating international outrage. The brewery is claiming “it meant no offence” but the ball-gag imagery is disturbing…
Credit: Facebook / The Kopytov Brewery
Here’s what we know….
As reported by the BBC, The Kopytov Brewery in Barnaul, a city in the Altai region of Siberia, launched its new Pryanik Imperial Stout with a label that features a close up of a woman with a ball-gag in her mouth. And they were blindside by the immediate outrage the image generated.
The ball itself is intended to look like a traditional Russian pryanik honey cake and the fact that it’s leather-strapped to a women’s mouth doesn’t help things…Nor does the brewery’s satyr logo which is also on the S&M beer label.
The brewery announced its new beer on Instagram, calling it a craft beer that offers an “aromatic tsunami of cinnamon, clove, anise, black pepper and juniper, just like a real pryanik”. But details about the beer were overshadowed by many who saw the label as a clear portrayal of “violence towards women.”
The social media firestorm generated by the label prompted a state agency (it’s Russia, everything’s a state agency) to run an online poll asking if the image was offensive, which yielded more than 28,000 votes.
And the Kopytov Brewery took to its Facebook page to urge fans to participate and to vote in their favor…
“Brothers and sisters! It’s going crazy. People who call themselves feminists have written a statement to the Anti-Monopoly Service, claiming that the advertising of our [Pryanik] beer offends all the women of the planet. And for this, the FAS staff started voting on its official website.”
“Please, kind people, go and vote, and please tell your comrades. We very much hope that common sense will prevail. Without any jokes, the whole team of our brewery is very fond of their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. We are against violence in any form. We are for humor, art and adequacy.”
Ultimately, (and not surprisingly, at least we hope) 58% found that the image was offensive.
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