Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Ratatouille Wine

Opening tommorrow is the new Disney/Pixar film Ratatouille, about a rat named Remy who wants to be a French chef. I have long been a fan of Pixar films and this film particularly appeals to me as a foodie. I have seen some of the previews of the film and eagerly look forward to seeing it. Pixar films work on multiple levels, pleasing both children and adults.

We are all used to seeing all the various licensing of this cartoon characters. There is usually little you cannot find with the characters' likenesses on them. But a bottle of wine? Is that going to far?

Forbes is reporting that Disney is going to market a wine, called "Ratatouille" and bearing the likeness of Remy on the label, through Costco. The wine will be a French Chardonnay from the Burgundy region and will retail for $12.99.

It seems very strange that they will sell wine using a cartoon character. Recently in the news, a number of the cereal manufacturers had agreed to limit the use of cartoon characters in selling cereal. How many children will see the wine and want it simply because it has Remy on it? How do adults explain it is an adults only product? I am not sure it is really a good idea to do this. I am sure that Disney could have found different products to gear towards adults.

What do you think?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Might also be a good chance to start teaching your children about responsible alcohol use...

Richard Auffrey said...

Hello El Jefe and welcome to my blog:
You are quite correct. It certainly would present a good opportunity for that.