Church and State winery pulls unsavoury ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ labels
Posted September 29, 2018 1:31 pm.
Last Updated September 29, 2018 6:22 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER ISLAND (NEWS 1130) — The effects of the #MeToo movement are extending to wine labeling, signalling that retailers are aware of the change in both rhetoric and culture.
Church and State winery is pulling all of its Lost Inhibitions wine bottles with the label “Boys Will Be Boys.” The figure of speech has garnered negative connotations the light of the sexual abuse cases by some of media’s and politics most powerful men.
Danica Geoffrey, operations manager of Church and State winery’s Brentwood Bay location on Vancouver Island, tells NEWS 1130 the recall came after admonishing social media posts. This particular label is one of about 300 the company uses for the Lost Inhibitions. Geoffrey says had it been up to her, it would have never passed, and that she had to hunt down the locations which sold the wine with the label
“I just knew right away we had to get on top of this, it’s super sensitive. I was shocked we even had this label,” Geoffrey says, stressing the labeling came during the tenure of the previous owners.
“It was two ladies who had shared the post, so I wanted to craft a personalized message from me, as a woman, who is as equally shocked and disturbed by this. And then we got in touch our sales rep, just to make sure where the wine is and put in a order to pull these labels off store shelves.”
Geoffrey hopes Church and States’ actions have won some trust back from customers and she reassures that the company is not ignoring what is currently going on with respect to sexual harassment.
“We are sensitive to that and that was never our intention and by no means does it reflect our core values,” she adds.
Anthony Buree, general manager of Church and State, says he did not know the label was part of the wine’s branding and the company immediately contacted B.C.’s liquor board to remove any bottles at stores.
“This is so far removed from the new ownership,” Buree says. “This is so reprehensible in our time, this behaviour. I can’t say enough about how it bothers all of us.”
— with files from Taran Parmar
