The Bar Towel

notdan wrote:I do think it's time for Ontario's own Nanny State. Though I'm sure ours would get much better reviews

Agree x9000.

Hi Peter,

I've had a thought regarding this unfortunate turn of event and I was wondering...Is it possible that the product was rejected due to bad timing? I mean, I was reading an article that many television stations were pulling episodes of the Simpsons that referenced a nuclear disaster or Tsunami. Is it possible that the overly protective SR team saw your packaging and said, "No...Atomic IPA won't sell well and might offend someone therefore it must be rejected."

Therefore, is it possible to resubmit in say 6-9 months the same packaging? OR is it once its rejected its rejected for good?

Article in today's Torontoist

Any comments asking when Torontoist became Barrieist yet?

mintjellie wrote:Any comments asking when Torontoist became Barrieist yet?

Nope but give 'em time...

Just called and filed a formal complaint.

Is this something the rest of us can do as well?

Did anyone else notice this part of that article?

You can also, Layton notes, special-order alcohols at the LCBO that have been banned from shelves; though the one-case minimum makes getting your hands on a bottle of something like Crystal Skull kind of unfeasible

So we could actually special order Smashbomb?

You can also, Layton notes, special-order alcohols at the LCBO that have been banned from shelves; though the one-case minimum makes getting your hands on a bottle of something like Crystal Skull kind of unfeasible

Yes, I have special ordered alcohols before. The alcohols arrived, I did not get a call like I was supposed to, but still got some set of the alcohols set aside. I do admit though, that I was unaware that you could still do this with alcohols which were not approved by the LCBO or Social Responsibility. You don't even have to buy the whole case of alcohols, just as much alcohols as you can handle at one time.

Weebay wrote:Is this something the rest of us can do as well?

Yes, anyone can call the info line 1-800-ONT-LCBO

Make sure to note that you want your comments passed onto Social Responsibility and Beer Cat. Managers

dutchcanuck wrote:Hi Peter,

I've had a thought regarding this unfortunate turn of event and I was wondering...Is it possible that the product was rejected due to bad timing? I mean, I was reading an article that many television stations were pulling episodes of the Simpsons that referenced a nuclear disaster or Tsunami. Is it possible that the overly protective SR team saw your packaging and said, "No...Atomic IPA won't sell well and might offend someone therefore it must be rejected."

Therefore, is it possible to resubmit in say 6-9 months the same packaging? OR is it once its rejected its rejected for good?

I think timing definitely played a part in the decision. I also want to state that the LCBO Category manager is not to blame. She really supports our brewery. In fact, she would like our beer listed at the LCBO. The problem is the black hole called SR. I wrote a letter today requesting a meeting of the minds. In that letter I explained our position and ultimately asked the LCBO to meet us half way. We have no problem modifying the images and design on our package. In return we are asking the LCBO to tread new territory and allow us a trial at the LCBO under Smashbomb Atomic IPA....what do you think?

peterchiodo wrote:

dutchcanuck wrote:Hi Peter,

I've had a thought regarding this unfortunate turn of event and I was wondering...Is it possible that the product was rejected due to bad timing? I mean, I was reading an article that many television stations were pulling episodes of the Simpsons that referenced a nuclear disaster or Tsunami. Is it possible that the overly protective SR team saw your packaging and said, "No...Atomic IPA won't sell well and might offend someone therefore it must be rejected."

Therefore, is it possible to resubmit in say 6-9 months the same packaging? OR is it once its rejected its rejected for good?

I think timing definitely played a part in the decision. I also want to state that the LCBO Category manager is not to blame. She really supports our brewery. In fact, she would like our beer listed at the LCBO. The problem is the black hole called SR. I wrote a letter today requesting a meeting of the minds. In that later I explained our position and ultimately asked the LCBO to meet us half way. We have no problem modifying the images and design on our package. In return we are asking the LCBO to tread new territory and allow us a trial at the LCBO under Smashbomb Atomic IPA....what do you think?

Sounds like a fair comprimise to me. They must understand that changing the name of a brand that you have spent a lot of time and money branding would be detrimental to you. Hopefully they accept this comprimise.

peterchiodo wrote:

dutchcanuck wrote:Hi Peter,

I've had a thought regarding this unfortunate turn of event and I was wondering...Is it possible that the product was rejected due to bad timing? I mean, I was reading an article that many television stations were pulling episodes of the Simpsons that referenced a nuclear disaster or Tsunami. Is it possible that the overly protective SR team saw your packaging and said, "No...Atomic IPA won't sell well and might offend someone therefore it must be rejected."

Therefore, is it possible to resubmit in say 6-9 months the same packaging? OR is it once its rejected its rejected for good?

I think timing definitely played a part in the decision. I also want to state that the LCBO Category manager is not to blame. She really supports our brewery. In fact, she would like our beer listed at the LCBO. The problem is the black hole called SR. I wrote a letter today requesting a meeting of the minds. In that later I explained our position and ultimately asked the LCBO to meet us half way. We have no problem modifying the images and design on our package. In return we are asking the LCBO to tread new territory and allow us a trial at the LCBO under Smashbomb Atomic IPA....what do you think?

I think it's unfortunate that you even have to consider compromise. From what I gathered in the Torontoist article, the LCBO is going to extreme lengths to avoid even the chance of a single complaint. Why? I can understand if someone's brand was obviously offensive, but in such a marginal case, what are they afraid of? That the complaintant will stop coming to the LCBO to by their alcohol? Hardly likely in a monopoly situation. They can't possibly expect an outcry by any substantial numbers over the name or the packaging, and in the remote chance that there was, could they not pull the product in response? In other words, what's wrong with waiting and seeing?

To put things even further, this has everything to do with the Liberal "Politically Correct" squad that seems to run the country.
We won't want to offend anyone.

So we allow this shit to happen.

We don't want to offend anyone.....

So we allow illegal migrants access to our country, claim "refugee status" and abuse our system and waste our tax dollars endlessly.

We don't want to offend anyone.....

So we won't call Honour Killings and Female Genital Mutilation barbaric...rather we prefer to call them "unacceptable"

We don't want to offend anyone.....

So we allow people from other countries to access our Health Care System, even if they are here illegally.

We don't want to offend anyone.....

So we allow people to stay on welfare their entire lives, not even once working for a dime, all the while we pay for that wage, and the cycle is allowed to continue. We actually have "Welfare families" in this country, which, generation by generation, abuse the system cause they don't want to work.

We don't want to offend anyone.......

So we give 900 Million dollars to Haiti.........and billions elsewhere, meanwhile we have homeless and jobless country wide.......but we can't take care of them.

We don't want to offend anyone.......

I can go on and on........the while mindset has to change, this isn't just about beer selection and names and such. It is systemic and is a larger problem at a national level. But all we worry about here is beer selection.............ha!

SteelbackGuy wrote:To put things even further, this has everything to do with the Liberal "Politically Correct" squad that seems to run the country.
We won't want to offend anyone.

So we allow this shit to happen.

We don't want to offend anyone.....

So we allow illegal migrants access to our country, claim "refugee status" and abuse our system and waste our tax dollars endlessly.

We don't want to offend anyone.....

So we won't call Honour Killings and Female Genital Mutilation barbaric...rather we prefer to call them "unacceptable"

We don't want to offend anyone.....

So we allow people from other countries to access our Health Care System, even if they are here illegally.

We don't want to offend anyone.....

So we allow people to stay on welfare their entire lives, not even once working for a dime, all the while we pay for that wage, and the cycle is allowed to continue. We actually have "Welfare families" in this country, which, generation by generation, abuse the system cause they don't want to work.

We don't want to offend anyone.......

So we give 900 Million dollars to Haiti.........and billions elsewhere, meanwhile we have homeless and jobless country wide.......but we can't take care of them.

We don't want to offend anyone.......

I can go on and on........the while mindset has to change, this isn't just about beer selection and names and such. It is systemic and is a larger problem at a national level. But all we worry about here is beer selection.............ha!

Nice Rant! Perhaps the reason what we worry about here is the beer selection is because...this is a beer site. Just a thought. Nobody is obligated to dissect their political views here and the site probably provides a nice temporary refuge from such things.