Affordable Asshattery

If you have taste, you don't flaunt it.

Not so, says Hennessy. The cognac maker asks instead that you defy convention and "Flaunt Your Taste." To help you do that, Hennessy has a neat little PDF download that you can memorize.

The obnoxious copy in Hennessy's manual suggests that:

• There is nothing more powerful in the world than beauty.
• Patience is the defensive strategy of the uninteresting.
• Quality and luxury and not "nice to have," they are the basis of value in life.

You can puke now. When you come back I'll be happy to share Ewen Cameron's thoughts with you.

The CEO and ECD at Berlin Cameron United (Hennessy's agency), said, "You could argue that taste is subtle, but we see having taste as flaunting it. Our audience wants to go out and be noticed, but for their good taste as opposed to objects."

In other words, Hennessy is the bling you can afford.