Absolut is running an ad in Mexico that some in this country are finding offensive because it favorably depicts our borders as they existed before the 1848 Mexican-American war. We’re going to bite and talk about the ad even though it means that the advertisers win and America dies just a bit more.
The campaign taps into the national pride of Mexicans, according to Favio Ucedo, creative director of leading Latino advertising agency Grupo Gallegos in the U.S.
Ucedo, who is from Argentina, said: “Mexicans talk about how the Americans stole their land, so this is their way of reclaiming it. It’s very relevant and the Mexicans will love the idea.”
But he said that were the campaign to run in the United States, it might fall flat.
“Many people aren’t going to understand it here. Americans in the East and the North or in the center of the county — I don’t know if they know much about the history.
“Probably Americans in Texas and California understand perfectly and I don’t know how they’d take it.”
Meanwhile, the campaign has been circulating on the blogs and generating strong responses from people north of the border.
“I find this ad deeply offensive, and needlessly divisive. I will now make a point of drinking other brands. And ‘vodka and tonic’ is my drink,” said one visitor, called New Yorker, on MexicoReporter.com.
Reader Paul Green goes into a discussion on the blog Gateway Pundit of whether the U.S. territories ever belonged to Mexico in the first place, and the News12 Long island site invited people to boycott Absolut, with one user, called LivingSmall, writing: “If you drink Absolut vodka, you can voice your approval or disapproval of this advertising campaign with your purchases. I know I will be switching to Grey Goose or Stoli and will never have another bottle of Absolut in my house.
Um, honestly, we didn’t pick up the history thing at first glance. We heard it was running in Mexico and immediately understood the intrinsic appeal. As far as we can tell, it’s cute and funny and will obviously incite hordes of Mexicans to race north against earthquakes to reclaim our once-picturesque frontier. Watch out, Alta Californians!
What do you think?
Mexico reconquers California? Absolut drinks to that! [L.A. Times]
(Photo: MexicoReporter)
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How about one with the non existent country of Palestine covering Israel?
That’s a great ad. I tried to find a large copy to use as my wallpaper.
i prefer grey goose
I think it’s hilarious. Seriously, guys, you need to get over it. Saying this ad is distasteful is just a practice of ignorance. They are not catering to YOU at all. This is an add for mexicans. People are just too sensative about America. I love my country too but I can take a joke but unfortunately it seems other can’t. Boycotting Absolut is just stupid. If everything offensive in this world was boycotted we would have a very, very boring world.
The ad’s not distasteful, the vodka is. However now more people will want to drink that swill. Let them have it, more Tito’s, Glacier, and Stoli for me!
I think it’s actually a cute ad. But then I’m not all crazy patriotic about the US and never had any interest in its and Mexico’s history. Whatever. Chill out peoples.
They also said Akira was the “Absolute Anime”. I don’t think so, but I’m not throwing a boner about it.
I skimmed through the comments and I still can’t figure out what the big deal is. I’m supposed to be offended that Mexico would rather have won the the 1848 Mexican-American war?
And why are people comparing Mexicans to Nazis?
@Leminnes: So if Coke decided to release an ad in Israel saying that “Palestinians are blathering idiots, drink Coke” and Palestinian residents received an ad which stated “Israelites are blathering idiots, drink Coke” or something along those lines, it shouldn’t matter just because they’re catering to a specific audience, right?
The implications of stupid advertising are far-reaching and choosing a subject as touchy as illegal immigration along the American/Mexican border is definitely not a good way to get publicity…because…you know…someone on the other side of the border might actually happen to see the advertisement and think “Absolut” my ass.
Really stupid move by Absolut. You don’t have to be from Texas or California to understand it, because I understand it fine. So its historically accurate, what the fuck does that mean? Still dumb.
Grey Goose for me from now on.
That’s from before 1848? I coulda sworn that was circa 2008. Actually, when I look around me, They’re being very generous to the territory of the US.
That green area is definitely much larger.
@cde: Respect, and here I thought I one thinking the same thing
I think it’s shitty to use old, still-festering wounds for advertising purposes. I also find it pandering. But from there to “boycott Absolut!” is a stretch, because all of advertising is pandering in one way or another.
(And when I say it’s an old wound, I mean on the Mexican side.)
See, the point of alcohol is to lower inhibitions and give you false confidence. That’s why after 6 or 7 Absoluts you think you can take on that 350lb ‘roid monkey at the bar (the one with the tattoo of a snake eating a knife on the back of his shaved head) even though you’re a skinny 110lb computer geek whose entire life experience of fighting has taken place on XBox Live.
This ad is simply selling this benefit of the product, using a well-known effect of the product. It seems like a sound strategy to me.
I’d kinda like to see the same “In An Absolut World” view where the Native Americans get to take back all of their land…
What I don’t understand about groups like MECHA and LaRaza is why they want to have Mexico “re-conquer” large parts of the USA, then they (or perhaps their ancestors) went to such effort to escape Mexico and sneak into the US. As a LEGAL immigrant who has been getting dicked around by the INS / DHS for over six years, the illegals piss me off because they skew the legitimate debate about how much and what kind of immigration is economically and socially optimal, but I totally understand their motivation, and it’s not their fault if the president and the rest of the government is too gutless to defend the border. What I don’t get is why they think that a Mexico which swallows California, Texas et al would, long term, be better than the current Mexico? Mexico has lots of natural resources and people who are hard working, but it totally lacks the transparency, good governance and enlightenment values which have allowed America to get where it is. That’s what built the system that draws in millions of immigrants, but these reconquista folks don’t get it – they are so into their marxism that they think it is all about the stuff, and don’t realize the value of the system anf the people.
Tapping into racial and national resentments for an ad campaign is the problem. Others have mentioned some parallels such as Absolut Japan or Germany. The good news is that there is not an ongoing “reconquista” movement in either of those cases. Let’s try “Absolut Palestine” or Serbia, let’s see their ideas for Absolut Zimbabwe. That it is in English suggests the ad writers were attempting something viral and a full step too clever.
This ad is repellent on many levels and convinces me that nobody should drink this crap. Besides, they’re owned by the French now so any boycott is a twofer.
I think it’s a cute ad. But, hey, my smidgen of native blood comes from the NY/Canada area, and I buy locally made corn tortillas (OMGDelicious).
Also, I seem to not drink anything that Absolut makes.
You know what is offensive, though? The Consumerist’s poll results. You should have “clear: none;” in “#content .poll_entrant_result img, #content .poll_entrant_result td img”
Why have the poll bars been three rows for this long?
I hope the next one is an American ad without Canada. ‘Cuz really – why is there a Canada?
This isn’t bad because of any issues with the Mexican American war. This is bad because of the current American immigration arguments.
Large parts of the the green area are inhabited by illegal Mexican and South American immigrants. It fine to make a statement they are welcomed to it. To make such an inflammatory statement to sell liquor is a bad idea.
What, no Lou Dobbs jokes? Did I miss them?
I don’t think we as a society should make a big fuss out of this clever-yet-stupidly-offensive ad.
I’ll get into my own person fuss about it, and might even personally boycott Absolut – if I actually drank it, so I guess this ad does not really affect me.
(Except that it somewhere deep down tickles an irrational fear that some Mexicans are seeking to appropriate my back yard into their national territory – which is ridonkulous, when you really stop to think about it.)
Snakeophelia: It’s a freaking mexican AD, run in Mexico.
the only thing this proves is that people who read michelle malkin are asshats.
If I still belonged to Mexico, I’d get more siestas. I’m all about siestas.
Good thing Absolut sucks anyway.
I guess inciting racial violence would be an excellent sales strategy, considering that Absolut bottles work really great as malatov cocktails.
For those of you saying that this advertisement is for another country: completely fucking wrong. Anyone that travels in southwestern states knows that entire areas of cities run billboards targeted towards hispanics due to the demographics of the area. These advertisements are in English. Clearly these ads are intended for those places.
I forsee a very cloudy future for Absolut is California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
@trujunglist: Wait, so they are targeting hispanics in hispanic areas of the US with English ads instead of spanish? How logical….. The only english part is the tagline. Everything else is in spanish…
and it’s MOLOtov, not malatov.
This is the least offensive thing in the world.
As a white American raised in New Mexico, I find this ad awesome.Much as I love the US, there is no denying that my state was taken in a war of conquest with reasons that do not hold up well. I think I’d also be fine with a campaign marketing to Native Americans where the tribal areas are represented and there are no non-indigenous nations/peoples. Acknowledging a different outcome from past events in a vodka ad isn’t really something that threatens the integrity of this nation. It’s fodder for crazy nationalists, but given how many times Godwin’s has been invoked in this thread, I think we’ve the good sense to avoid crazy nationalists
@Snakeophelia: boycott yes indeedy. time to forward to friends & family.
stole? reconquista? kiss my native born ass!
@Keter: Please go back to your hole, you goddamn redneck. Perhaps Absolut will suffer in sales in your little racist world, but you’re delusional if you think this is going to negatively affect them overall.
It is fine people need to stop bashing Mexico and if the US didnt attack Mexico those parts of the US would still be Mexico’s space besides Texas.
God forbid people in the US have to deal with how others feel about them once in a while, grow up yanks. This ad is great.
The world _would_ be an incredibly better place if Texas were a part of Mexico! (Since only natural born US citizens can become president.)
I’m wondering why the map itself and everything on it is in Spanish, but the tagline is in English.
That aside, it’s an almost accurate map. *shrug*
I think it’s…odd…that so many people are reading it as inciteful because of immigration issues. The ad is showing something historical, not the current issues at all.
@Snakeophelia: … So you’re saying that every advertiser has to make every ad fit and be palatable for every audience, no matter where it will be printed?
… If you can manage that, my hat as a graphic designer is off to you.
@synergy: The problem stems from the combination of the map and the phrase “In an Absolut world”. What do you suppose the meaning of the word “Absolut” is when used in this context? Is Absolut trying to say that “In an (Ideal/Perfect/etc.) world”, Mexico would still own most of the western seaboard?
I’m sorry that Absolut has to shelve it’s plans to cater to the Neo-Nazis of the world by showing most of Europe under Nazi Germany with the phrase “In an Absolut World”.
Mmmm…
I agree with U.S. immigration policies and I, for one, think that every country in this world has the right and obligation to enforce its physical borders and defend its territory and soverignity from alien citizens (in the case of Mexico, would be really nice to have all those venezolan, cuban, chilean and argentinean people that does not do another thing that to take the jobs and money out from that country and affecting mexican economic and external affairs).
But I also ponder what it would be, if, instead of having the ad targeted to Mexico, it was targeted to the US…
Will an “Absolut America” tagline, with a map tagging as US territories Iraq and Afghanistan and some parts of Somalia be as distasteful as this? At least, it will be portaying the actual reality, IMHO.
Just think about it. And get over this stupid ad. There are more important thing in this PRESENT life…
@Michael Belisle: Yes, them “loco” mexicants are carting off all our good ole god-fearing Anglo Saxons and shoving em in gas chambers, eh?
People that are ready to boycott on a moments notice seem to be generally the from the same slice of the pie. Reactionary and ready to misinterpret to the fullest extent. So stupid to get worked up over an ad…
I´m from Mexico, and since i´m not on board of the “those places belong to Mexico” train, i find this ad really good, all the things the spokeperson said they wanted to represent are in the ad (i work at publicity too), so i think this is a very good ad in first place.
What i find funny about this is the responses about boicott and things like that, is really funny because someone makes an ad for a market different than US, and everyone creeps out and finds it offensive; Yeah, i agree with something said earlier, tha ads should be done thinking in the responses all th world could take, because of internet and all, but, is it really practical??? No, because it will be a lot of work for nothing; Let´s face it, the number of foreign ads that get the spotlight in the web are nearly to nothing, so the numbers prove my point. But, the number of US ads that are famous on the web is really big, and i don´t see the publicity firms truly care about racial stereotypes and things like that, but nobody says nothing, Why?? I don´t really know, but if the response “Mexico so poor they can’t even update their fucken maps” someone wrote in the first posts is proof, it´s just because they´re plain stupid so their market. I don´t drink, but i really enjoy Absolut ads, so i´ll encourage people to buy it, just to piss of some ignorants who wanted a boicott.
To the people who didn´t find the controversy, i give you an applause and wish you luck, because from what i´ve seen, people with working brains, are on the brink of extinction…
@InfiniTrent: As the holder of a marketing degree, we shouldn’t listen to anything you say.
Yup- I’ll keep drinking Absolut- companies need to make money and I can certainly see the appeal to Mexicans. It doesn’t offend me- this Californian is quite apathetic I guess…
Only one of those redneck idiots or conservative, crying eagle t-shirt wearing, flag wavers could get worked up over an ad like this.
They should have used the map of the US before the Louisiana purchase too.
past – Mexico was part of Spain until 1810. Louisiana was part of Spain until 1800, having become part of Spain in 1762. Either way, doesn’t sell well to Mexico
Come on… technically none of the land should belong to anyone. We were all colonists excluding the American Indians. All they are doing is showing an outcome to a previous historical event that never happened… read: NEVER HAPPENED. Every ad has the license to infuse fiction into their work. What’s new? Am I offended as an American? No. Do I know whether Mexicans want more land? Do I care? I’m sure most Mexicans look at this ad, chortle to themselves, and get on with their life. Do they begin to hate Americans because of it? STRONGLY DOUBT IT.
As the holder of a degree in Spanish language & literature, as well as Anthropology, I think this is a wonderful ad. Maybe those of you who are so offended should take up a course on Latin American culture. For once, try to understand someone else’s viewpoint. The fact is, not only did we steal this land from the Natives who lived here, but we also stole the land that was originally Mexicos. Whoever is offended by this ad is probably the same type of person who is petrified that the Latinos are “taking over our country.” The type of people who shit their pants when they see a Latin American person on the street or in their neighborhood. And god forbid they might be speaking Spanish. Stop being afraid of a fucking language…