Monday, September 23, 2013

Found on Flickr: cats, mannequins and odd signs

Windmill Cat

When I am researching travel topics for the blogs I write, use the Creative Commons image search tool. Through both Wikimedia Commons and Flickr, there is an easy way to share images with all the source and licensing info intact (it's there if you click on any photo in this post). So thought I might just start sharing some of the photos I come across today...

These are not from my travels, just stuff that either made me laugh or smile today... These are all from Dennis from Atlanta, on Flickr.

Genuine Fake Sign

Scary Athens Mannequins

No restroom duty?

Mannequins

Lots of fun... but I must finish with one more cat...

Grand  Bazaar Cat

Monday, September 16, 2013

Fooled by branding: alcoholic energy drinks

I had an interesting experience the other day. I drove to work on Saturday (I usually take the bus), so on my way back to my car after work, I stopped at an independent beer/wine/liquor store to pick up some provisions for the weekend. When I approached the cashier, and put down my purchase, I was feeling hungry and tired, so I grabbed some potato chips from the snack rack and an energy drink from a little fridge on the counter.

As I got into the car, I had a big drink (it was a hot day), then drank a bit more than half on my way home. When I got home, I put the rest in the fridge for the following day (I often start my day with an energy drink).

When I woke up on Sunday, I grabbed the left over can from the fridge and took a big gulp. For the first time, I noticed that it tasted a bit different, so I looked at the can. You can imagine my surprise to find I was drinking vodka at 10 am!

Then I burst out laughing, realizing that this was the very can I was drinking from as I drove home from work the day before...

Then I got mad.

I had absolutely no idea I had purchased a mixed vodka drink - heck, I didn't even know they made them - and I certainly didn't know I was drinking it while driving. I was aghast.

First of all, I feel duped by the store, who had these drinks at the till, where most such stores have pop, water and energy drinks - along with the chips and chocolate bars. Why they would have a fridge of single-serving iced drinks at the counter is beyond me.

All I knew, was that I could see my (former) favourite brand of energy drinks, RockStar, in my favourite flavour, the white sugar-free can. I didn't examine whether they had changed the styling of the can. And had I looked even a bit closer, that's all I would have thought it was, new styling - I would have no reason to even suspect it was a vodka drink, even though I was in a liquor store.

As an aside, I still feel fully responsible for drinking it and driving. I can't pass that responsibility off on anyone else - the store, the manufacturer or the laws that misguidedly permit this.

I am not commenting on whether there should or should not be alcoholic energy drinks on the market - that's a completely separate issue.

What I do feel is duped.

I feel it is irresponsible for the manufacturers of these products to label them so they look practically identical to their non-alcoholic counterparts. This isn't brilliant marketing, it's stupid marketing. It feels like a bit of a trick, so people won't notice youth walking down the street or otherwise drinking booze in public places. If I was a parent, my kid could have been drinking one of these under my nose, and I'd never know it. It must make the job of the police harder.

I'm sounding old here (dammit!), but I don't like slights of hand to get around the law. Yes, youth are more than likely going to drink, but this is like facilitating it.

I also think of how dangerous this is. If I made this mistake - and I consider myself reasonably intelligent - anyone could. What if I'd drank the whole can? What danger would I have been? Maybe I already was, at half a can. What if other drivers drink one of these by mistake? What if someone who has had just one drink and is under the legal limit, grabs one by mistake.

What if someone who is an alcoholic drank one by mistake? Yes, I know they won't be in the liquor store, but if they are visiting a friend and grab one from their fridge, never suspecting the alcohol content? How far could that set them back, and change their life (not for the better)?

I think the whole thing stinks.

I think there's a very good chance that I'll be checking out the boozed up energy drink cans, and if they are made to look like the alcohol-free versions, I'll probably by neither. I have no interest in supporting a brand that takes such an irresponsible approach to marketing. Aka, bye bye Rockstar...

~ end of rant ~

Update: I was forwarded 2 very interesting links about the legality of alcoholic energy drinks, and Health Canada's position on the "loophole" that allows these products to be on our shelves (thanks to @BevWire):
Oh, I also visited the store to give them feedback. They didn't seem to care. Why am I not surprised?

Tuesday, September 03, 2013

My new cruisetravelbug blog!

Well, after earning my sea legs as a new cruise consultant, and my certification behind me, I figured it was time to turn the identity I had created on Twitter for cruises - @cruisetravelbug - into it's own blog. And today I made it live! So please come cruise with me on the cruisetravelbug blog!

Enter to Win 1 of 25 Cruises - enter by October 31, 2013!

Come cruise with me on the cruisetravelbug blog!

My new look

I love my new blog design!! I don't think I could not smile when I see it.

Seems it was time to dump the all black look.

Perhaps this will make me more likely to get blogging again. Heck, if it works, I'll take it....

Actually, it has more to do with separating out the other aspects of my life and interests to separate spaces. I am liking it very much.

Today: I think I got a decaf energy drink.





Monday, September 02, 2013

Blog moves

I've been fiddling with my blog... I realized I was trying to do too many things with it, and I had lost the space to just "be me" in the blogosphere...

So far, I have moved all of my citytravelbug book shops over into a brand new blog, which I hope you will visit:


citytravelbug books (http://citytravelbooks.blogspot.ca)
I also plan to spin off a couple of other blogs, so each can have it's own focus (kind of like what I have done with my multiple Twitter handles. Expect to see those changes sometime soon - and find a bit more of the real me just posting whatever here....

Hope you are having a happy Labour Day, wherever you are. Hard to believe it's September!

Roberta