A big smile with the wine a suitable distance from the face
Posted on 02/02/2005 11:53:29 PM PST by MadIvan
Two different photographs of Catherine Gachet about to sip a glass of the wine she produces in south-western France show her looking more like a Hollywood starlet than a winemaker.
But in the eyes of a French law at the centre of a battle between the country's ailing wine industry and health pressure groups, only one of the images is legal.
A big smile with the wine a suitable distance from the face |
For the second shoot, her sultry, "come hither" expression became a wholesome grin and Mrs Gachet held the glass well away from her face. Crucially, the caption identifying her as a wine grower was featured much more prominently.
"The whole thing is totally absurd," said Mrs Gachet, 37, a dentist's wife and mother of two who turns out up to 15,000 bottles of Clos Dady - mostly Sauternes, a sweet wine normally served with foie gras or desserts - each year.
"Anyone who knows me would tell you that the first image was more like me than the one that was allowed, which had to be retouched by computer."
The saga of the "before and after" pictures began when Mrs Gachet was chosen as one of the faces of Bordeaux wine for a national poster and newspaper advertising campaign.
 A ‘come hither expression’ and the glass held close |
Speaking from her vineyard, Chateau Bastard at Barsac, south-east of Bordeaux, Mrs Gachet said: "The fuss over which photograph was acceptable and which was not was ridiculous, like so much of what goes on in France. We are moving more and more towards legislating for anything but the good life."
She admitted that with 45,000 alcohol-related deaths a year, France had a serious drink problem. "But those who are affected are much more likely to be abusing strong drinks such as whisky or pastis than taking fine wines with good food as part of a perfectly healthy lifestyle.''
The French parliament has now approved a slight relaxation of the rules on advertising text, which previously limited winemakers to drab technical information. A proposed amendment also allows the copy to mention the wine's character and taste.
Mrs Gachet's toned down image may conform. But any advertisement showing a model remains banned.
Despite a £50 million aid package from the government this week, wine growers complain that they are being treated like drug pushers.
At the same time the producers are suffering grievously from changing attitudes to drinking, a crackdown on drink-driving and increasingly sharp competition from New World wines.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Thank God there are not IMPORTANT problems in the world. Leaves the frogs to concentrate on the ridiculous.
I suppose that they have to concentrate on petty things though. It's all they can handle any more.
Godspeed
Inspector Gachet?
[Claude Michel, Satyr et Bacchante]
They would have a coronary with the Overstock.com ads.
Here's a link to a fan page for Sabine Ehrenfeld, the Overstock woman.
For a country where female nudity in everyday advertising occurs I find this absurd. I guess that is France these days.
Brother, it ain't like she's got the stem of the glass inserted in her hoo-hah.
OMG, I know her. Met her in Toulouse on wine industry business.
My wife 's college roommate has lived in France with her husband for almost 25 years. Did you know that the names which parents select for their newborn babies must get government approval? France may be viewed by most people as simply a laughingstock or a sick joke, but what they actually have there is a very unfunny socialist tyranny.
Definitely please give her my regards.
Tell her Lancey says, "oui oui".
Yes, that's been in force since the days of Napoleon.
They're simply full of it.
Regards, Ivan
Quit posting that nastiness. Second thread in a row that I've been confronted with that.
Small world factor strikes.
I'm glad she's wearing a long sleeve top. Hairy pits are a turn off.
"Chateau Bastard", isn't that Kerry's house. LOL
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