Swedish vodka maker, Absolut has pulled a controversial advertisement that showed a map of the United States and Mexico as they were before the Mexican American War. The advertisement read “In An Absolut World.”
A spokesperson for Absolut said that the ad wasn’t meant to stir up anti-American sentiment.
“In no way was this meant to offend or disparage, nor does it advocate an altering of borders, nor does it lend support to any anti-American sentiment, nor does it reflect immigration issues,” a spokeswoman wrote on Absolut’s Web site.
“Instead, it hearkens to a time which the population of Mexico may feel was more ideal,” she wrote.
Absolut vodka pulls ad showing California in Mexico [Yahoo!] (Thanks, Anne!)
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I still won’t buy it.
USA! USA! USA!
“Pulled it”? More like, “allowed it to run its course which was not going to be long anyway, after it drummed up enough publicity for our product.”
Mmmm Tacos
“Instead, it hearkens to a time which the population of Mexico may feel was more ideal,” she wrote.
Right, and the American ad will run with Mexico not even appearing on the map…can’t wait for that ad campaign!
If anyone who does not want their bottles of Absolut, I would be more than happy to take them off of their hands
That ad was both offensive and just plain stupid. Whoever came up with that should be fired.
I still wonder how come the budget for this ad was approved? Regardless of the message or non-message, don’t tell me they haven’t see this coming?
Maybe me I’m wrong and the objective was actually attained…
Is Canada still on strike?
@mduser: Me too.
Here, let me try parsing this -
“In no way was this meant to offend or disparage, nor does it advocate an altering of borders, nor does it lend support to any anti-American sentiment, nor does it reflect immigration issues,” a spokeswoman wrote on Absolut’s Web site.”
Should read -
“Some moron in marketing thought this was a brilliant idea in order to pander to a select market group. This person forgot to understand the law of unintended consequences and is now looking at new & exciting employment opportunities”.
As for this little gem -
“Instead, it hearkens to a time which the population of Mexico may feel was more ideal,”
Should read – “We should read about history before we assume history”.
Great Job Absolut ! You not only get an epic fail for your target audience, but you manged to piss-off you core market . Double-plus ungood!
Just make the map without any borders and label it ‘North American Union’ so that it will be insulting to everyone (except the globalists).
I rarely purchase vodka above the bottom shelf, but I know which brand I won’t be buying when I splurge…
You know, I think that Mexico is slowly reclaiming most of that territory.
I will continue my boycott of Absolut on the grounds that is is grossly overpriced.
too expensive anyways f’em
Did they not think of the fact that implying to some that ideally they’d be living in Mexico — I’m sure many people in those areas do NOT want to live in Mexico — is sure as hell not ideal, and offensive to those people?
This is the Internet age. If you think people in the areas you’re talking about aren’t going to see your slur against them, think again. A hundred years ago this ad might have never been seen by Americans. In 2008, they’ll see it instantly and put your reputation in the toilet for insulting them.
Yeah, I think that statement translates as “Oh please oh please keep buying our product! PLEEEEEESE!! And, uh, thanks for the ‘controversy’ and bonus media exposure that has allowed us to remind people about our fine vodka far beyond what a normal ad campaign could achieve.”
@friendlynerd: You must love hangovers. I get mine from the middle shelf, usually Smirnoff. Decent stuff, especially when it’s mixed 1:2 with tonic.
ill buy MORE just because everyone got so pissed off about it.
Pussies!!
I don’t like vodka and if I did I wouldn’t like Absolut, but I have a hard time feeling any anger over this. No wonder people make fun of Americans; the greatest military superpower on Earth and we’re hurt by some gentle teasing from a middle-shelf liquor brand? Grow a pair and stop caring about dumb shit.
Who the hell needs to see an historic map. Everyone knows that Americans were the first on this Earth and Americans slowly expanded to other parts of the world.
Screw history….. who needs it.
Geez! People whine when things like this get advertised but if it were a map of the Middle East, with something like an American flag on top, they’d be like “Har har let’s drink to that!”
I for one liked this ad and will keep drinking Absolut!
@boandmichele: Amen to that!
History does tend to repeat itself…
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”
@ratnerstar: I second that.
Not offensive unless you are just looking to be offended.. there are so much worse ads out there and yet we have to stop and waste our time complaining about this one. Get over it. Carry on, absolut.
@subliminal0182 you are exactly right. we are definitely hypocritical enough as people that we would probably enjoy a map criticizing the middle east or some other place we generally do not like.
so if that ad does happen, lets enjoy both. lol
I don’t understand how this ad is offensive. Can some bleeding heart liberal/crazed conservative please explain it to me? I guess I just don’t care enough to understand why I should be angry.
“A spokesperson for Absolut said that the ad wasn’t meant to stir up anti-American sentiment.”
Yeah I agree…. it WAS however meant to use mexican’s ALREADY anti-USA sentiment to sell their product.
Nice way to be deceptive absolut!
Not trolling, but what if the ad (or an ad for a different product) was aimed at Palestinians, and showed Israel with the West Bank and Gaza Strip removed, or all of Israel changed to Palestine? How about to China w/o Tibet, or WITH Taiwan as part of mainland China? How about all of Ireland under the UK? How about Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe behind the iron curtain?
It is not hard to imagine that there might be some offense taken by the “other” side in these instances. I think Absolut should not get a pass on this one for that reason alone. Pandering to one nationalistic emotion while offending other market segments is not a great way to sell booze.
At least the mAD men didn’t release it on the week of the Siege of the Alamo, that would have been a cold piece of work.
How about “ABSOLUT SOVEREIGNTY” with the Berlin Wall on our Southern border.
@fall_farewell: Finally someone has some common sense. There’s so many people that bend things out of shape. I’m not sure why the ad was offensive. Is it because it’s showing how big mexico used to be and a bunch of ignorant people don’t like to see that the us was once small? If so then they have a lot more childish problems than a vodka ad.
@friendlynerd: Last I checked absolut was almost the top brand of vodka. so i think you’re probably thinking of something else.
@Steaming Pile:
I just don’t drink that much vodka!
@The Marionette:
Right. Read my post again. Slowly.
@mduser:
Amen to that!! Please e-mail me with an address to deposit bottle of absolut.
The apology should actually read: “We sincerely apologoze for playing into anti-immigrant hatred in the U.S. We had no idea that the right-wingers were making this into the next huge campaign issue now that everyone’s all hated-out on the “moral issues” thing. We also didn’t realize the depths to which some American bloggers would stoop. On behalf of everyone at Absolut, please enjoy the following drink recipe:
Fill shaker with crushed ice
Add 2 shots Absolut vodka
Add 3 parts STFU
Strain into chilled glass
Drink rapidly
Turn off TV and go outside.
@akyiba: I expect the Charleston to make a comeback, myself.
This was stupid, it was an insult at the expense of the US used to sell vodka in Mexico. It is like badmouthing your friend to someone else. When the friend finds out your saying something negative about them they just might get offended and tell you to take a flying leap.
I generally don’t get too up in arms about the whole immigration thing but I found the ad insulting in the realm of I wouldn’t buy Absolute due to it. But I also won’t buy clothes or perfume from companies that portray women as chained up naked animals either.
Absolute got a ton of negative press out of this but it may not be a case of any publicity is good publicity. CNN printed out the comments sent to Absolute’s website, most of them negative. The pile was close to the size of a Chicago phone book.
you know..
I’m an American and i really don’t care about this ad. Does it bother me? Not in the least. Let them advertise however they feel will get them to have more sales.
I would’ve gone for “a greased, naked woman on all fours with a dog collar around her neck and a leash … and a man’s arm holding on to the leash extended out to her shoving a black glove in her face to sniff it.”
more examples of how america is becoming a bunch of babies
That ad was both offensive and just plain stupid. Whoever came up with that should be fired.
@Pro-Pain:
Though I doubt it was their intention to cause controversy, the free press it got was invaluable. They let it run its course, apologized for any negativity or personal, emotional or financial pain it may have caused the 300 million Americans living here then gave the ad agency a bonus for unintended creativity.
@Munsoned: But the examples you site are recently disputed boundaries, if not active violent conflicts. What if they showed a map of Europe circa 800 AD with a large Frankish Empire united under Charlemagne for a French ad campaign? Would it be offensive to other Europeans?
This would be in poor taste if there were routinely Mexican terrorists setting off bombs in Texas and California trying to take back the land, but, well, there aren’t. Yeah, it’s a bit odd or perhaps a bad idea to run an ad poking fun at your biggest market (I assume USA is Absolut’s biggest market) but it’s not exactly grossly offensive.
Is there anyway we can actually give those lands back to Mexico? And they can have Florida too.
makes no sense to me.
in an ‘absolute world’ you have to go back before north america was raped by the english and spanish.
they should have gone for a native american tribe map.
then i’d be impressed.
@backbroken: If your giving away Florida can I have it?
Boy! The 2010 World Cup is going to be exciting!
Ohh next lets do one for Germany where they control most of Europe, one for England that shows the US under British control, one for….