Today is a dark day for marketing mavens as unbranded cigarettes make their debut on the Australian market.  For with SA cigarette packing under legislative review, how long before busy bureaucrats turn their attention to alcohol?  If the ANC in the Eastern Cape can call for a wine boycott to advance the living wage for farm worker campaign, how long before the national party calls for a label ban to lesson the attraction of Bacchus and to divert attention from problems of service delivery in the Department of Health?

As I opined on www.winenews.co.za last month, while Australia legislates to retail cigarettes in unbranded olive green packets, building on the success of gruesome health warnings on packs in reducing demand, unbranded wine would totally transform the industry.  It would be the ultimate victory for blind-tasting advocates, removing marketing totally from the Bacchanalian equation and forcing consumers to rely on their senses to appreciate and enjoy the product.

The cozy mafia of label designers and printers would be exploded and prices should fall substantially if wine was only available in olive green bottles.  But then what a price to pay to control the demon drink.