Beer ads full of boos for Bloomy

New York Daily News ^ | April 12, 2004 | TRACY CONNOR

[sarcasm]

You can bet they won't be serving Rheingold at Gracie Mansion anytime soon.

The brewery has declared war on City Hall with a series of in-your-face television ads attacking the smoking ban, cabaret laws and silly summonses.

"This is New York, and we can't sleep till we take it back," the narrator declares in the three commercials, which start airing Wednesday on cable.

Each 30-second spot tackles a different enforcement issue.

In "Cabaret," actors are seen break dancing all around town until a banner comes up on the screen announcing: "No Dancing. Fine: $3,000."

Another features a montage of people sitting on milk crates - a reference to Daily News stories about a man getting ticketed for turning a crate into a chair.

But it's the "Ashtray" spot that's sure to be the most controversial, depicting hipsters striding down city streets with ashtrays in their pockets.

They march into a bar, pound down their ashtrays and are served ice-cold Rheingold before the screen fades to this message: "No Smoking in Bars. Fines Issued: $200 up."

The message had anti-smoking activists fuming.

"It's as close to encouraging breaking the law as you can get," said Gene Borio, who runs the Web site www.tobacco.org and supports the city's ban on smoking in bars.

Mayor Bloomberg's office dismissed the ads as a cynical ploy by Rheingold, which closed its Brooklyn doors in 1976 and started brewing again in upstate Utica five years ago.

"When times were tough, Rheingold abandoned Brooklyn, laying off 4,000 New Yorkers," said Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for Bloomberg.

"Now that times are better, they want to exploit the city to sell their product. They have as much of a connection to New York as Heineken does."

Rheingold chief executive Tom Bendheim said he went after the smoking ban and other issues because they're important to the bars and consumers who buy his beer.

"We're trying to impress on people that the foundation of what the city was built on was Bohemia, and every one of these laws ... just begins to erode the foundation of what makes the city great," said Neil Powell, the ad's creator.

Powell put together a list of topics for future ads, including the restriction on feeding pigeons, a ban on bikers lifting both feet off the pedals, and a ticket given to a pregnant woman who stopped to rest on subway steps.

But what does any of it have to do with beer?

"It should appeal to the people that enjoy nightlife in New York City," Powell said. "And drinking beer is part of that."

[NYC GOP Chick]

MARK GREEN!!! LOL! Wasn't he somebody once ... like, a while ago...

Yeah -- somebody so detestable that even my leftist co-workers voted for Nurse Goonberg!

[Clemenza]

I saw the ad. It was HYSTERICAL!

They could turn it into a whole series, with drinkers sneaking Rheingold into Arab Hookah bars in order to smoke and drink.

If I were better with Photoshop, I would LOVE to superimpose Bloomingidiot's head on Louis Fletcher's (as Nurse Ratched) body.

[Clemenza]

The Yuppie Manhattanites give him a reasonably high approval rating, as do certain unsavory fellows on Staten Island looking for "crumbs." Other than that, he is either hated or ignored by those in the outer boroughs. Since he has kept quiet lately, his approval ratings have gone up to 40% (again, largely due to increases among the transplanted Californicators/New Englanders who seem to dominate Manhattan these days), but he is still behind Freddy Ferrer (a Dem machine hack a la Beame and Dinkins) in the polls for 2005.

Its a shame Vito Fosella won't be challenging Mommy Bloomberg in 2005, as that would at least force the Nurse to the Right on certain issues. Its either going to be Bloomingidiot or Freddy the Tool in the next election. Either way, we are screwed here in NYC.

[Gabz]

It had your name all over it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Oschisms]

MARK GREEN!!! LOL! Wasn't he somebody once ... like, a while ago...

Well, his caps are still prominent, at least.

[Oschisms]

Another X3 anti Bloomberg voter checking in.

[NYC Republican]

Man, I was hoping Vito would go up against Schumer... Too bad... I'd gladly take him as our mayor... Given the choice between Ferrer and Bloomberg, I'd reluctantly side with Bloomberg.

[Clemenza]

I've been pleased having Vito as my congressman. People complain that he doen't bring enough pork to Bay Ridge (and the open air Geriatric Ward known as Bensonhurst), but I can do without it, being that its my money being spent!

[Tabi Katz]

Y'know, I personally hate the taste of most beer as much as I do cigarette smoke, but I'm tempted to throw a Rheingold party just to piss off Bumblin' Bloomie.

[firebrand]

Its only use was to make a half and half with Guinness Stout.

You're forgetting the Miss Rheingold contests, aren't you?

[firebrand]

Whoops. Missed a reply.

[firebrand]

We can always vote for the Conservative candidate. Mike Long seems to be earning his title lately.

[hellinahandcart]

If I were better with Photoshop, I would LOVE to superimpose Bloomingidiot's head on Louis Fletcher's (as Nurse Ratched) body.

I'm not very good at it myself, but here ya go, just for grins:

[NYC GOP Chick]

We can always vote for the Conservative candidate. Mike Long seems to be earning his title lately.

Will there be one? Also, if the 'rats put up a hatemonger like Ferrer (or some other Sharpton bootlicker), I'd *almost* be tempted to have to vote for Nurse Bloomberg. Not that I like much of anything he's done, but he's not as hideous as that ilk -- and not likely to turn the city into a third world cesspool fueled by hatred of whitey.

All in all, not a fun time to be a conservative voter in NYC. Then again, I did get to talk with the guy running against Jerry "The MOAB" Nadler and he seems fairly conservative (not like the leftist the RINOs ran 2 years ago), so at least I can *finally* vote Republican for that office!

[NYC GOP Chick]

Very good work -- not that I'm surprised! The only things I'd change is to match the resolution and clarity of the pic that you're bringing in to the existing pic (Nurse Bloomberg's face looks blurred, while the others look crisp) and clean up the edges around where the cut out his face (I can see the artifacts in the second pic).

You definitely have a talent for this, but that's not a surprise, given your profession. (Oh, and still taking your advice, I darkened my hair a little more today!)

[hellinahandcart]

I'm still trying to figure out what the different buttons do-- resolution and clarity are, like, Advanced to me right now. It's a miracle I was able to get the faces the same size. :P

There aren't a lot of good pics of Nurse Ratched on Google anyway. Maybe we should be shooting for a different type of Nurse Bloomberg altogether:

[NYC GOP Chick]

I'm just...speechless.

Seriously, you have a talent for this stuff.

[Clemenza]

LOL! #36 is the best yet! He looks like an RN that Dr. Frankenfurter would approve of!

[Clemenza]

Now that Rheingold has made a comeback, we can only hope that Ballantine, the pride of Newark, returns as well. I have many older relatives who used to work at the plant so my grandfather was well stocked with Ballantine Ale back in the day.

[Great Dane]

The message had anti-smoking activists fuming.

LOL, but it's o'kay for the anti's to advertise, what hypocrites.