Beer: Bail me out!
It
was while shopping in a hypermarket that I first noticed the
yellowish beer shaped bottle at the cosmetic division. Just the size
of the cute alcohol bottles that you get on airplanes. A closer look
and the front label had BEER written on it. This was a treat to the
Beer lovers eyes - while another closer introspection also revealed
SHAMPOO.
Nevertheless,
the moment felt exactly like when people went 'Awww so cute'
after watching baby/cat/dog videos.
What
was a beer bottle doing in the cosmetic division?
Well, beer happens
to be good for the body in lot of ways. The barley drink has always
boasted of it healthy constituents. For all its internal benefits to
the body, it so happens to be good for the hair too - when taken from
the outside, giving it a shiny glow.
With
Park Avenue doing great in the apparel business, the promoters went
on to expand the brand around categories like men's grooming market.
They placed their brand in the high-end segment by marketing it along luxury soaps, perfumes etc.
Now some wise
marketing guy would have conceptualized ,
"If beer is good for the hair, then why not place the most popular men's drink on his head."
And it worked. The Park
Avenue Beer shampoo went straight from the cosmetic division shelf
to my shopping cart in a jiffy.
With such smart packaging, I actually
felt pleased to have a miniature beer bottle in my shopping cart.
Clearly the product jumped off the shelf owing to its unique
ingredient.
As the advertising communicated through its tagline
"Cheers to man hair",
I stood convinced that beer and hair was reason for Cheers.
A
silly thought ran in through me, as I wondered, how would it seem for the
beer (as a first person) to switch its role from an anti-villain that the society has perceived it to be, into a hero.
Here is a beer
monologue:
Beer: I just can't believe that I have to stay all day long inside this bottle, on
top of a cosmetic shelf, watching L'oreal and other feminine beauty products around me.
After all, I belong inside a refrigerator, with my buddies UB, Budweisy etc. (sic)
This
had to happen just when micro breweries started hand crafting a lot
of us with love and passion. Brewing along flavors like Apple Cider, Rice, Smokey who were gaining immense fan following.
My clan, with our proud lineage and styling ranging from -
crisp, hop, malt, roast, smoke, fruit-spice, tart-funky, and I now have no interaction with them whatsoever.
And for those you who consume me, if you wanted to know how we beer clan used to feel -
yes, both the shampoo and my regular self, would eventually get to
your head. (sic)
Come
to think of it, I never felt cooler than when I was chilled (no
pun intended). So guys, will you please bail me out!
Sincerely,
Beer
-sd
