Tales From Tales of the Cocktail: Strip-Teasing, Midgets, and Tattooed Vodka-Peddling Cats!

Vodka cats.

Bartenders from all over have gathered in New Orleans this week for Tales of the Cocktail, an event not unlike sleepaway camp for the liquor industry. More than an exercise in endurance drinking, this cocktail convention is also a marketing marathon. Some of the more elaborate publicity campaigns so far have included a Dita Von Teese burlesque show called "Be Cointreauversial" (for Cointreau) that culminates in her splashing around naked in the frothy contents of a giant martini glass. The Monteleone Hotel lobby, Tales headquarters, has also been populated by strongman midgets, people in vegetable costumes, and no shortage of scantily clad women pushing some brand of booze or another.

But these hairless cats with tattooed bottoms took the shameless marketing campaign cake. The vodka brand Double Cross enlisted these rare sphinxes to sport its logo on their bald bodies. The two feline models were spotted today, lounging by the Monteleone's rooftop pool with the other cool kids showing off too much skin. Now, that's branding.

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