History not Nike's strong point.

[Crackpot]

You don't know your beers then jim

[Lord Jim]

I know what I like.

I'm not going to take seriously being told that I somehow can't really be enjoying a beer at the temperature I enjoy it at by some suds snob who's insisting the only proper temperature to drink it at is the one they like it at...

(This is a sore point with me because I happen to know a couple of hardcore beeries who are fanatics about this...)

It wasn't bad enough that for decades we've had a bunch of wine control freak know-it-alls whining about the only proper ways one should enjoy various wines...

Now, we've got legions of beer busy bodies too....

What next?

Are some snooty apple aficionados going to come along to tell us the only "proper" way we are permitted to enjoy cider?

[Sean]

Well I can't comment on your American 'beer' Jim but over-chilling proper ale absolutely destroys the flavour. It is a common misconception that English beer is warm.

Think of over-chilling real ale to be akin to overcooking steak.

[Lord Jim]

absolutely destroys the flavour

Well, what you call "destroying the flavour"....

I would call "making palatable"...

Come to think of it, there are very few beverages I enjoy drinking at room temperature....

Scotch, cognac, brandy....

That's about it...

[Gob]

Are some snooty apple aficionados going to come along to tell us the only "proper" way we are permitted to enjoy cider?

Jim, the ONLY way to enjoy cider is sat in a deck chair, in the shade of an old oak, watching the village cricket team.

[The Hen]

I agree with Sean 100%.

I don't like beer but for taste you HAVE to have an English ale at English room temperature. It is soooooo good you wouldn't believe.

[Sean]

But it's not served at room temperature!

That is the myth.

[The Hen]

Fair doos. But Chuckles keeps his in his cupboard in the kitchen in Exeter and it was the tastiest I had tried.

[rubato]

The only reason to drink beer cold is if it tastes nasty and you want to deaden your taste buds or if you're in a hot climate and you want to cool off. Good beer is much better at cellar temp. than refrigerated.

yrs,
rubato

[Crackpot]

another common misconception. Different beers taste differently at different temperatures Some taste better colder some taste better warmer. Only a moron would claim there is only one temperature to properly drink beer.

[BoSoxGal]

The flavors available in a cool room temp Guinness far surpass drinking it cold.

[Long Run]

Re the point of the original post, to the vast majority of the NIKE wearing world, black and tan at St. Patrick's Day has only the meaning that NIKE meant. It was a faux pas with respect to 1% of their customer universe. Indeed, the vast majority of people in this country who celebrate St. Patrick's Day have no better than a vague idea of what the point of the celebration is -- they just know it has Irish origins and it is a good time to party and have a Guinness, or maybe even a black and tan.

All in all, it is a pretty understandable mistake for even a large company to make because it is not like calling it the Pol Pot or Hitler shoe. It is closer to the "cougar" mascot issue, where a term has a benign understanding for most people, but a negative understanding for a minority. I do think you try to avoid upsetting people, but this one is pretty far down the list of marketing miscues.

[Scooter]

They said they called them Black and Tans specifically because that was reminscent of something Irish. That makes it a completely unforgivable blunder, because the strongest Irish assocication with that name is, in fact, the constabulary, and not any kind of beer. And yes, it would be just as bad to be marketing a product to 40-ish women and using cougar imagery of any kind.

[loCAtek]

Since when was 'cougar' derogatory?

Urban dictionary begs to differ;

An attractive woman in her 30's or 40's who is on the hunt once again. She may be found in the usual hunting grounds: nightclubs, bars, beaches, etc. She will not play the usual B.S. games that women in their early twenties participate in. End state, she will be going for the kill, just like you. Associated with milfs

cougar

1349 up, 1224 down





Hot and sexy older woman, usually in her 40s or 50s, single or married, who is sick of her same-age counterparts which are usually hairless, have big guts, who only talk about their insurance premiums and have the TV remote control attached to their hands. Cougars are attractive, in their sexual prime, who know what they want and aren't afraid to go after it. BIG misconception is that they dress cheap, wear hot pink nail polish, animal skin prints and are not-so-attractive old-looking hags with bleached hair (Yeah those women exist, but they are NOT cougars). True cougars are classy, beautiful creatures who have made their successes on their own, have real brains, usually with expensive cars/homes, and are real head turners. Cougars seek younger men, and don't have to sneak up and attack...they know their younger mates are eager to get an experienced woman who won't ask if they'll call them the next day. Being a cougar is a positive thing.

as do I, I never minded it.

[Scooter]

Apparently a slim majority of people are turned on by the image of woman as sexual predator. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Regardless of the hijack, the failure to grasp the visceral reaction that would be evoked by using Black and Tans as a brand name was just plain stupid.

[MajGenl.Meade]

It was not a good name-choice. But was anyone actually Irish actually upset?

Irish Americans protested

These are the people who like to march in St Patrick's day parades on the grounds that they once had a great great grandparent who left Ireland at the age of zygote and was born on a boat but not the Titanic. This makes them "Irish" Americans and experts on all things Emerald.

Of course, sales in Ireland don't matter a durn to Nike. There they'll probably just try to eat them (or drink them) and besides the majority population is now Polish anyway.

Meade

(Traditional)
It was down in the town of old Bantry
When most of the fighting was through,
It was there that a young Irish soldier
Said "They've buggered me Black and Tan shoes".

"Won't you bury them out on the mountain,
to mark where the fighting was done.
Won't you bury them out on the mountain
with the laces all torn and undone."

And now that we're back in old Dublin
With Guiness and ale in our hands,
Won't you think of the young Irish soldier
Who grieves for his lost Black and Tans

[Gob]

Inviting followers on Twitter to "show us what makes you proud to be British" as part of a diamond jubilee promotion must have seemed like a good idea at the time at Starbucks.

But after tweeting the invitation to nearly 2,000 Irish followers of its Twitter account on Tuesday, the coffee giant has been on the receiving end of a backlash over its seemingly shaky grasp of political geography.

"Right now someone in Starbucks Ireland is wishing there was a Twitter version of the memory wipe thing from Men In Black," was just one of the responses tweeted soon after.

One follower of the Starbucks Ireland account (@Starbucks.IE), Fergus McNally, commented: "the ie stands for Ireland, awaiting the apology before I visit your stores again!!"

An apology did come, hours after the gaffe, with the Starbucks Ireland account telling followers: "We erroneously posted to our Irish Twitter page meaning to post to the UK only. Customers in Ireland: We're sorry."

The company later followed up by issuing a statement saying: "First and foremost we apologise to our Irish customers for the mistake made on Twitter this afternoon.

"The tweet, which was only meant to be sent to our British Twitter followers as part of the diamond jubilee celebrations, was erroneously posted to our Irish Twitter page.

[Gob]

Adidas has sparked outrage and been accused of 'promoting slavery' by creating a new pair of trainers which have bright orange 'shackles' that fit around the wearer's ankles.

The clothing giant is under fire for its August scheduled release of the JS Roundhouse Mids, which many have compared to the devices worn by black slaves in 19th Century America.

The seemingly innocent promotional material, uploaded to Facebook earlier this month, asks: 'Got a sneaker game so hot you lock your kicks to your ankles?'



But the shoes have sparked angry debate online, with many saying there is a more cynical tone to the advertisement.

More than 2,000 people have labelled the design 'offensive' and 'ignorant' and say the firm has 'sunk to new lows' in its 'slavewear' product.

Dr Boyce Watkins, writing for Your Black World, said: 'Shackles. The stuff that our ancestors wore for 400 years while experiencing the most horrific atrocities imaginable.

'Most of which were never documented in the history books and kept away from you in the educational system, all so you'd be willing to put shackles on your ankles today and not be so sensitive about it.'

The Professor at Syracuse University said he accepted some people would accuse him of overreacting.

But he added: 'There is always a group of negroes who are more than happy to resubmit themselves to slavery.

'I'm offended by these shoes as there is nothing funny about the prison industrial complex, which is the most genocidal thing to happen to the black family since slavery itself.'

Others have likened the shoes' orange 'bracelets' to the shackles worn by prisoners across the America, or said the firm is 'promoting slavery'.

Facebook user Kay Tee agreed, and said: 'It's offensive and inappropriate in many ways. Not to mention ugly.

'Regardless if the company was saying the shoes are so hot you have to chain them to you, or they were capitalising on the whole prison style popularity.

'But corporate business has a social responsibility above all to consider these perceptions before releasing a product like this.

'How would a Jewish person feel if they decided to have a shoe with a swastika on it and tried to claim it was OK in the name of fashion?'



Adidas has been contacted by Mail Online, but has so far not commented on the claims.

It seems Adidas did not want to be outdone by fierce competitor Nike in the controversial shoe design stakes.

[dales]

'I'm offended by these shoes as there is nothing funny about the prison industrial complex, which is the most genocidal thing to happen to the black family since slavery itself.'

What a load of unmitagated feces.

[Sean]

They could always market them in Oz...