3 Controversial Brand Names and Images
By: Anthony Adragna
Published: April 21, 2011

Companies constantly look to push boundaries when they come up with the images to sell their brands. Sometimes those brand images can be taken offensively. Here are two recent examples of that:
1) Smashbomb Atomic IPA: Canadian-based Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery has decided to tweak the image for its "Smashbomb Atomic IPA" after the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) refused the first label because of the current conflicts in Libya and Afghanistan. The LCBO asked the brewery to tweak the label, which currently features a bomb exploding over a skyline in a comic book style. They will not insist on a name change. Take a look at the label in question below:

2. Never Forget Four Loko: A Brooklyn DJ believes that the decision to ban alcoholic Four Loko from New York stores is somehow comparable to the attack on America on 9/11. Radical Outing wrote an entire album featuring Four Loko-inspired tracks, including "I Drink Four Loko in the Rain" and "Girl I Want to Buy You a Can of Four Loko Tonight." His album cover, as you can see below, features an airplane colliding with two cans of Four Loko and horrifically depicting a similar scene to that of 9/11. The album's tagline is "an attack on our freedom and way of life." Do you think this is appropriate?

3) Raging Bitch Beer: Maryland-based Flying Dog Brewery has filed a lawsuit against the Michigan's state Liquor Control Commission in federal court because the board would not permit the use of its proposed "Raging Bitch" label. The beer was created for the 20th anniversary of the brewery, and features the tagline, "Remember, enjoying a Raging Bitch, unleashed, untamed, unbridled -- and in heat -- is pure GONZO." The commission denied the label originally and upheld their decision during the appeal process. Flying Dog claims the decision infringes on its freedom of speech. You can see the proposed label below, which features a crazed dog snarling.

Photo via Toronto Sun/ New York Daily News/ UPI