It doesn't take much to amuse me today. A stupid comic, a turn of phrase, a pun and even a good fart joke will make me laugh. So, I find amusing the clever wine labels created by Living Wine Labels, an app that uses your phone's camera to animate a wine label. Among those brands using the service are Australia's 19 Crimes and Last Wine Company's Walking Dead wines. Beringer and Chateau St. Jean also have versions.
The Walking Dead, based on a comic strip, is one of today's most popular cable TV shows, so the time couldn't be more perfect for Last Wine Co. The "Blood Rd Blend" has an image of Sheriff Rick Grimes. Download the app, point your camera to the label, and the sheriff fights off the undead in a wine shop, The Cabernet Sauvignon has zombies breaking out of the label. Put the bottles side by side and you have a fight breaking out. The wines sell for about $19 a bottle.
19 Crimes was first with the augmented reality label. The labels are based loosely on British prisoners who were sent to an undeveloped Australia in the 18th century for committing one of 19 crimes. The rogues later became the colonists of Australia. The inmates on the label come to life telling their story. The label has been download more than half a million times.