A news website from Latin America, América Economía, had an interesting piece recently on the proposed purchase of Grupo Modelo by ABI, entitled Beers And Monopolies: Don’t Mess With Corona, that discusses beer monopolies from the point of view of South America.
Today in 1810, Mexico gained their Independence from Spain.
Mexico
Mexico Breweries
Mexico Brewery Guides
Other Guides
Guild: Asociacion Nacional De Cervez Mexico; Beer Manufacturers Association
National Regulatory Agency: Ministry of Health (Secretaria De Salud)
Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: Labels must include the following information: Name or commercial trademark of the product; Name and address of importer; Net contents (in metric units); Country of origin; Alcohol content by percentage of total volume; Date marking, if applicable; Special instructions for use, storage, or handling, if necessary
Drunk Driving Laws: BAC 0.08% Note: Foreigners with recent (in the past 10 years) drunk-driving criminal convictions are generally refused entry at the border. Mexico’s Immigration Act section 36 considers any foreign drinking and driving outstanding charge or conviction as an Indictable offense (similar to a felony).
Alcohol Consumption By Type:
Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):
WHO Alcohol Data:
Patterns of Drinking Score: 4
Prohibition: Zapatista Communities will often ban alcohol as part of a collective decision. This has been used by many villages as a way to decrease domestic violence and has generally been favored by women. However, this is not recognized by federal Mexican law as the Zapatista movement is strongly opposed by the federal government.
The sale and purchase of alcohol is prohibited on and the night before certain national holidays, such as Natalicio de Benito Juárez (birthdate of Benito Juárez) and Día de la Revolución, which are meant to be dry nationally. The same “dry law” applies to the days before presidential elections every six years.
This week’s work of art is by the renowned Mexican artist Diego Rivera. He was known for his political murals and being married to artist Frida Kahlo, but early in his career, when he was about 21, he painted a self-portrait of himself wearing a big black hat. In the painting he’s sitting a table at what perhaps is an outdoor cafe. He’s also drinking a bottle of beer out of a glass, both of which are also on the table. It’s actually believed to be only the fourth painting Rivera completed. Today it hangs in Mexico City’s Museo Dolores Olmedo Patino.
I can’t tell what the beer from 1907 might be. It’s a green bottle and looks like the cork was covered in silver foil before it was opened.
You can read Rivera’s biography at Wikipedia, the Artchive or at Diego-Rivera.com. Plus,
<em>Diego Rivera, Art and life is available online. You can also see more of Rivera’s works at Olga’s Gallery, Diego-Rivera.com and the Nader Library.
Tuesday’s ad is for the Mexican beer Tecate, brewed by Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery. The brewery was founded in 1890. I have no idea when the ad is from, though it has a look of the 1950s or early 60s. Norman Rockwell south of the border.
It appears the U.S. doesn’t have a lock on goofy, over-the-top anti-alcohol propaganda. Mexico has some pretty bad propaganda, too. This comes courtesy of I-Mockery, a humor website, and its founder, Roger Barr, who describes the Mexican Crazy Mexican Monografias: Alcoholismo propaganda:
When it comes to public service announcements, America is really quite tame compared to the rest of the world. While we have the ultra-corny NBC celebrity spots which always end with “The more you know…”, other countries aren’t nearly as sheepish when it comes to displaying the harsh realities of life. This became even clearer to me when I stumbled upon an incredible collection of Mexican monografias posters in the basement of a Philadelphia art gallery last year. Some of them were extremely graphic, and others were pretty friggin’ hilarious… needless to say I purchased one of each.
Barr then goes on, in often hilarious fashion, to translate and comment on each of the images, such as this example below.
Hmmm, I’m getting a few mixed signals here. From what I can tell, if you become an alcoholic, one of several things can happen to you: a) you can crash your car into a telephone pole, b) you’ll appear in your very own television commercial, or c) you’ll somehow fall into a huge glass of liquor which a giant will then pick up to drink and you’ll die in his stomach. See what I mean? Those Mexicans aren’t gonna shy away from the truth about alcoholism. Harsh reality, people.
And this very surreal piece of art:
“Some bottles of alcohol contain miniature humans who don’t have any genitals, and oh yeah, Death likes to hangout inside bottles too. Kind of like a genie, but the only kind of wish he’ll grant is your wish for the sweet release of death.”
Barr has broken down every one of the nearly two dozen graphic works cautioning people about the dangers of alcohol. And before I get another rash of comments, I’m not making fun of those dangers, just this ridiculous attempt to warn people about them using these illustrations. But take a look for yourself at the Alcoholismo, it’s pretty funny stuff.
This Sunday’s work of art is decidedly adult in nature, as much art often is, and is by Mark Blanton. Blanton is a modern artist, a hyper-realist it appears, and also has done a series of pin-up art, which he “created as a tribute to the Sixties’ art movement known as Pop Art and the work of Pop artist Mel Ramos, Pin-up artists Alberto Vargas and George Petty.” The highlighted work today, featuring Bohemia beer, is channeling Mel Ramos so much that for a long time I actually thought it was by Ramos.
Looking through Ramos’ oeuvre revealed, as expected, many, many paintings of nude women with a commercial product of similar size, a pop art style that Ramos pioneered. But as many different variations as Ramos painted, I could not find one featuring a beer. You can see his work at Modernism, Art History, or the Ro Gallery .
Not finding it among Ramos’ works, I started looking elsewhere to identify it eventually finding Mark Blanton, many of whose works are strikingly similar to Ramos.
Given the obvious phallic symbolism of a beer bottle it seems strange that Ramos never did a painting with beer, although he did paint one with a wine bottle. Luckily, Blanton stepped in to fill the void.
You can also see more of Blanton’s Ramos-inspired pin-ups at his website, and also at Pin Up and Cartoon Girls and at the History of Pin Up Art.