Naked cartoon on Flying Dog beer label rejected by NC alcohol board for ‘bad taste’
The regulatory agency governing alcohol sales in North Carolina has snubbed an out-of-state brewery’s request to sell bottles of seasonal beer with a label depicting a naked cartoon, calling it “inappropriate.”
Now the brewery — a vocal opponent of censorship after winning similar cases in Colorado and Michigan — is suing.
Maryland-based Flying Dog Brewery accused the ABC Commission of infringing on its constitutional right to free speech in a federal lawsuit filed last month. The brewery is slated to appear before a judge Thursday on a motion for a preliminary injunction, which would allow Flying Dog to sell the beer with its chosen label while the case winds its way through court.
Jim Caruso, CEO of Flying Dog, said the lawsuit is “about defending the First Amendment against petty bureaucrats who want to censor whatever they personally dislike.”
“Does anyone really want to live in a country where government bureaucrats can censor material based on whim and personal preference? Books? Music lyrics? Videos streamed in the privacy of your own home? News stories?” Caruso said in a statement to McClatchy News.
A representative from the ABC Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
‘In bad taste’
The label at issue is for Flying Dog’s winter ale “Freezin’ Season.”
Lawyers for the brewery described the label in the complaint as featuring “the silhouette of a cartoon figure standing next to a campfire.”
Flying Dog sent the label, along with several others, to the ABC Commission for approval on July 16, according the lawsuit. A week later, the brewery received an email from the commission rejecting it.
The brewery then asked for the commission’s reasoning.
According to copies of the email exchange attached to court filings, the ABC board pointed to state regulations that bar advertisements or labels for alcoholic products deemed “undignified, immodest, or in bad taste.”
The words “bad taste” were highlighted above a picture of the label cropped to show the cartoon silhouette, the emails show.
“As you can see... the image below is seen as inappropriate to many here,” ABC said.
Flying Dog said the commission’s actions were unconstitutional and will likely cost it significant sales and “hard-won shelf placements” in North Carolina retailers.
“Seasonal beers rotate through liquor stores. If Flying Dog Brewery does not have a winter ale offering to follow its summer and fall seasonals, retailers will put another, non-Flying Dog Brewery beer in its place,” the brewery’s attorneys said in the lawsuit. “If that happens, it is likely that Flying Dog Brewery will not get that shelf space back for its subsequent seasonal offerings.”
Even if ABC allows Freezin’ Season to be sold on draft, bottle sales account for the vast majority of the brewery’s business, Flying Dog said.
Marc Randazza, who is representing Flying Dog, said the brewery is “all about upholding and defending the Constitution.”
“This case is about our fundamental rights under the First Amendment,” he said in a statement to McClatchy News. “Do you want a government official to be able to simply turn up their nose and say ‘I don’t like that kind of thing’ and restrict what you have to say?”
A history of 1st Amendment fights
Flying Dog was founded by George Stranahan, a renowned physicist who died earlier this year at age 89.
Stranahan’s idea for the brewery was was influenced by longtime friend and gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, who persuaded the illustrator Ralph Steadman to create some of its first beer labels.
Steadman still produces illustrations for Flying Dog, including the label at the center of the current lawsuit.
Edgy imagery and colorful language has been at the center of Flying Dog’s philosophy since its inception. In 1995, the Colorado Liquor Board ordered the removal of the brewery’s labels, which it branded “obscene,” The New York Times reported.
Flying Dog took the board’s decision to court and won.
Two decades later, the brewery claimed victory in a similar fight against the Michigan Liquor Control Commission, which banned one of its better-known beers that refers to a female dog.
Flying Dog alludes to the legal battles on its website.
“We live in a world where people are coddled, messages are muddled and ideas are squashed in the name of political correctness,” the site says. “When the Thought Police closed in on us, we went to Federal court to defend our right to free speech and expression.”
In three words just above it, the brewery makes a bold proclamation: “and f--- censorship.”
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Naked cartoon on Flying Dog beer label rejected by NC alcohol board for ‘bad taste’."
