Finding a typographical error on a label that originated in a country different from yours is a fairly common experience, and we can appreciate the difficulty of proper translation. On occasion we run into some packaging that we know did not get examined by a proofreader, because there was no proofreader, and we might get a good chuckle from the blunder. I find that in English speaking nations an error in spelling or usage is more difficult to find, perhaps because more people are paying attention to the copy.

Recently my eye caught a huge typo. The product is beer, packaged in a can decorated with a handsome shrink sleeve. The brewer is Half Full in Stamford, CT, USA, and the brew is the company’s summer offering, Within Reach Peach Wheat. (Try saying that five times fast.) On the back of the can, in the area reserved for required printed information, were these words in block letters: WEHAT ALE. Oh my.

“Someone got into a lot of trouble for that,” a brewery employee told me. I suppose that “someone” will be extra diligent in the future when it comes to inspecting language on labels. But in a business like brewing, how likely is it that an English major will be found, one with polished language mechanics skills who can spot a flaw with speed and certainty?

From my seat, here in the front row, I can assure you that fewer and fewer people are paying attention to what they type these days. Errors slip through constantly, because people no longer care so much, and as a result they don’t see the errors and they don’t bother to re-read in order to look at them. Folks are now dependent on the spell-check programs that come with writing programs, and they can’t be bothered to learn proper spelling. The WEHAT mistake was a typing error, not a spelling blunder, but both cry out for a good set of eyes. Several of them.

That said, leaders of companies are furious when typographical errors in their products are discovered. The misplacement of a punctuation mark in a legal or financial document could spell disaster for a business today. The incorrect spelling of one word could lead a medical patient to take the wrong dose of a medication, the result of which could range from discomfort to death. That’s why proofreading is critical.

Do the folks at your converting company read the labels that they print? Do your prepress people look at the copy and art to double- or triple-check that there are no errors in spelling or typing? If they do, good for them. I’ll bet they’ve caught a few zingers that would have caused anguish had they not done so. It would also help if the label designers paid attention to the functionality of the type rather than simply consider it to be another element of design. That could stop a typo long before it gets to the label printing stage.

Words matter, mon
Where is Red Stripe beer, the Jamaican style lager, brewed? If you said Latrobe, PA, USA, you win!

A class-action lawsuit was filed in the USA against Diageo, the owner of the Red Stripe brand, charging that the presence of the words “Jamaican Style Lager” and “The Taste of Jamaica” led consumers to believe that the beer was the product of that Caribbean island. The label on the beer also included the logo of Desnoes & Geddes, the Jamaican company that originally brewed the beer and whose owners included both Diageo and Heineken.

Chief Judge Barry T. Moskowitz of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California has disagreed with the plaintiffs in Dumas et al v. Diageo, declaring that “no reasonable consumer would be misled into thinking that Red Stripe is made in Jamaica with Jamaican ingredients based on the wording of the packaging and labeling.” The label also includes these words: “Brewed & Bottled by Red Stripe Beer Company, Latrobe, PA.”

Moskowitz pays attention to words and their context. He concluded that the word “Jamaican” modifies the word “Style” and not “Lager,” and indicates that the product is not from Jamaica. He also concluded that the phrase “The Taste of Jamaica” and the allusions to the “spirit, rhythm, and pulse of Jamaica” were vague and meaningless and could not reasonably be relied upon as designations of source.

Basically, the judge declared that the truth was printed on every Red Stripe beer label for all to see. It’s surprising to me that the plaintiffs, who knew full well that the beer was made in Pennsylvania because the label said so, actually took the time and money to bring this to a federal court. But that, however, does not mean that people are going to read everything that is on a label. Over the years I have pointed out to friends and acquaintances that Red Stripe was not brewed in Jamaica, and that Beck’s beer was not brewed in Germany (St. Louis, MO is the origin for the US version). Not one of them was aware that those beers were not imported.

Beck’s, by the way, recently lost a class action suit over the same type of subject: the implication that the beer comes from Germany.

Red Stripe lovers can feel better about this news: Diageo has sold the brand to Heineken, and the word on the street is that the beer will once again be brewed in Jamaica.

What’s in a name?
Would you buy a can of LSD Honey Ale? You might want to, but you can’t. The US government has told Indeed Brewing Company, of Minnesota, that it cannot call its summer beer – which is made with lavender, sunflower, dates and honey – LSD Honey Ale.

When it was distributing only in Minnesota, Indeed was able to sell LSD ale in 750ml bottles with no regulatory hindrance. When it began to package the beer in 16-ounce cans and distribute them to Wisconsin and South Dakota, it was obliged to submit its labels to the federal Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB) for approval.

Sorry, said the government, but we won’t permit a beer to bear a label that says LSD in prominent letters. People might think there’s a drug in it. There’s no telling what people might think. We all know that they don’t read and can’t spell. Somebody might even try to spike it with chemicals.

But y’know, it does seem a bit over the top, the LSD label. The brewer came up with a name that might be a bit long but satisfied the feds: Lavender Sunflower Honey Dates.

Indeed co-owner Thomas Whisenand described the beer as “one of those love it or hate it beers. We think that’s a good sign, actually. If we can do that, it means we’re pushing the envelope. With the name, I think we were pushing the envelope, too. Unfortunately, the envelope broke.”



The author is president of Jack Kenny Media, a communications firm specializing in the packaging industry, and is the former editor of L&NW magazine. He can be reached at jackjkenny@gmail.com.