Alcoholic Beverage Control Board pulls wine with naked nymph and bicycle

In another News of the Weird moment, the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has banned the sale of Cycles Gladiator wine because the label has a drawing of a naked nymph riding a bicycle. The AP reports that:

The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board recently told stores and restaurants to quit serving Cycles Gladiator wine because of the label. Board attorney Bob Martin said the 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.”

So a product you have to be 21 or older to purchase is deemed immoral because it has a drawing of the human form? Or is it the bicycle that makes it “immoral and sensuous”? The NPR blog The Two-Way points out that Fat Bastard wine is OK to sell in Alabama. So I guess you can use swear words to your heart’s content, but show the natural female form, and you get stopped at the boarder.

The wine maker which also supports cycling events started a Banned in ‘Bama campaign and has not been financially hurt by the ban. Bill Leigon from Cycles Gladiator is quoted in the AP article saying:

. . . he will never miss the 500 cases sold annually in Alabama. “There is going to be a significant increase in our sales,” he predicted.

I think we should do everything we can to support a company promoting bicycling and naked ladies. It just seems like the right thing to do.