Date Grape: The Official Drink Of Social Media Pranksters And Confused Sexual Predators

NYPost- A Milwaukee brewing company asked customers to help name its next craft brew — and then it all went horribly wrong.

MobCraft Beer, which regularly asks customers to name their new concoctions, crowd-sourced for suggestions for an upcoming brew that includes grapes and dates.

“Date Grape” made the top eight before the company realized that having fun with the name of a type of sexual assault wasn’t a good idea.

“Hello everyone there was an offensive name of a user submitted beer in this months [sic] vote, our monthly vote let people submit ideas for the beers, we did not have a process for screening names before the vote rounds started,” company founder Henry Schwartz wrote on Facebook.

“I feel horrible that this oversight happened, the beer name has been changed and we now have a process where our team vets names before they ever appear publicly. We would Never promote rape culture as it is very serious issue never to be joked about. Again my apologies for this.”



Whoa, whoa, whoa...what? A brewery held a naming contest for their alcoholic beverages and didn't think it would be wise to screen the submissions? I don't know what secluded corner of the worldwide web they are stuck living in that they didn't consider it a foregone conclusion that people would abuse their social media privileges, but it sounds like the online equivalent of 'PleasantVille'.   I bet they started formulating this brilliant idea immediately after putting a "please take one" sign on a bowl of Halloween candy outside their front door. Honestly, be more vulnerable guys. Pretty apparent the fine, naive folks at MobCraft brewery aren't hockey fans or they would have realized that these are the same shenanigans that had the NHL trying to ship John Scott to Siberia to keep him out of the NHL All Star Game.

Simply put, the internet never disappoints...unless you are asking them to maintain the integrity of prettttty much anything. Seriously though, was "name this beer that features dates and grapes" a legitimate request? That description of a fruity craft brew was begging to be flipped into an endorsement of non-consensual sex. Personally? I'd probably refrain from making that joke because it's too easy, but expecting the entire internet to pass up an open lay-up is like expecting Bill Cosby to tuck a comatose woman into bed prior to sleeping on the couch. If I had a suggestion for this brewery's marketing department - which I am assuming consists solely of the resident drunk - it would be to ease up on the 'Original Sin Porter' before putting your promotions into full effect. Leaving the public image of your company up to the internet is like putting the onus of pulling out on your 35 year old, ovulating girlfriend. You have to take your own precautions or that unwanted publicity is going to be just as much of a pain in the ass to deal with as an unwanted pregnancy.