Is This Absolut Ad Cheeky Or Distasteful?
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.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!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.
What do you think?
Mexico reconquers California? Absolut drinks to that! [L.A. Times]
(Photo: MexicoReporter)
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Comments:
What does Vodka have to do with Mexico?
Not to pull the whole "reverse-discrimination" card, but, if they ran an ad where the majority of Mexico owned by the United States, they would get crucified.
I don't find the advertisement itself to be offensive. What I find offensive is the double-standard involved, which, incidentally, is not Absolut's fault.
Jeez, people are mad about a (mostly) historically accurate map of the world?
*Mostly, because Colombia at that time also included Venezula and Panama as well as Ecuador.
@Hambriq: Well, if the US had owned Mexico in the past, then you'd be right. Then again, California through Texas was apart of Mexico, so any current map shows the majority of Mexico owned by the US.
@InfiniTrent: So a company should cater only to the US when making ads? Idiot...
Where have you brainfarts been for the last five years? While the US is trying to REALLY redraw the map of the world and it's policy is to extend it's control over the world, at a cost of trillions of dollars and thousands of lives, you guys are seriously worried about the "implications" of a map in a vodka ad.
And then you want to talk about history --
This does not tap into mexican pride.... it taps into the bullshit notion that the US stole the land from mexico & it somehow still belongs to them (which is ludicrous). It taps into mexican's anti-US hatred more than anything.
I find this worse than distasteful.
The ad is incredibly distasteful. Absolut executives would have be living under a rock not to know about the debate over borders and immigration that is raging in the US. Throw in known groups in California that are calling for a "reconquest" of the southwestern states, and you've got a powder keg.
To address a former comment, yes, a company should cater to the US when making ads, if they care to sell products in the US. Last I checked, ads were to SELL PRODUCTS, and ad execs that act surprised when political statements get people upset are the idiots. With this ad, Absolut has pretty much guaranteed that some people in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas will be moved to boycott Absolut products, and they'll probably choose to speak out publicly about it. Maybe Absolut is fine with that. But's it's hypocritical to suggest that Absolut is free to do what they want (i.e., stir up controversy with their ads) and then call consumers idiots when they do what is well within their power, which is to fight back with their spending dollars.
It's ours now. Get over it.
With this ad was made by a Swedish agency, I would say that they do the same ad in Europe, except obviously change Europe's borders so that they are where the Nazi state stood in 1941.
Yes this is offensive.
And cde, Texas broke off from Mexico on their own, and was later annexed willingly by America.
The fact is that borders change during wartimes, that land is purely America's.
And cde, an ad shouldn't cater to America, and you should apologize for calling someone an idiot. This is about catering, its about not outright offending.
What if the ad showed America under a Confederate flag? The ad wouldn't be catering to America, would you be happy then?
I don't know about this, but the first poster made a good point about what if the campaign was directed to the Japanese and showed a map of the territories Japan seized in WWII. Taking it another step, what if the campaign was directed at Germans and showed the Nazi era territories that Germany held?
Or how about a U.S. Civil War era map, for a campaign directed at the Southern U.S. states?
maybe they should run a similar advertisement in Germany illustrating the favorable territorial conquests of the Nazi empire, which includes Sweden
God, people are offended by anything and everything these days. WHO CARES?
@cde: "So a company should cater only to the US when making ads? Idiot..."
Aah, I love name-calling in the morning. Grow up.
I believe in consequences. If a company knows that an ad may be misinterpreted when viewed by an audience other than the one they intended, they need to realize that there may be repercussions.
Overall, it has nothing to do with America. What if a similar ad was run in Germany, showing Poland overtaken by Germany? Would the Polish people have a right to be angry? It's a "historically accurate map". But I sure think they'd be angy, and darn right to be.
I know it's trendy to bash folks that appear to be pro-America, but get over yourself and actually pay attention to what's being written before you pop off.
@cde: There's a movement that wants to reclaim territory from the US by becoming the dominant culture in said territory. As such, that movement explicitly supports immigration without assimilation.
Absolut is implying -- strongly -- that they support this movement. Is it not clear why folks might be offended?
(And lest I be tarred with an inappropriate brush -- I'm as pro-immigration as anyone. I think having long waiting lists is a symptom of bad policy and that building walls is a terrible idea. I don't necessarily support legal framework to block immigration by those who have no intent of assimilating, but I certainly do personally believe that their goals are inappropriate).
Nice! I might not have even seen the ad, much less gone to the liquor store and bought a bottle of Absolut without seeing that someone exercised their right to be offended and made a mountain out a molehill about it.
I applaud and congratulate the creative director who concepted this and the art director(s) who put it into play. I wish I could have come up with an ad that some thinskin though I had to apologize for.
Kudos to the creative community, and to Absolut for having the stones to run it!
@Hambriq: "Not to pull the whole "reverse-discrimination" card, but, if they ran an ad where the majority of Mexico owned by the United States, they would get crucified."
Absolutely right. No pun intended.
@thewriteguy: Oops I beat you to it, and you are right on. It almost no matter what country you are from, you should have pride over your borders, and what is in them.
So yeah, it is offensive when you say "in a perfect world, Mexico own 1/3 of America"
This is designed to play into Mexico's idea that there is a reconquista going on (and there is). But two things, America will not be conquered. Mexico's market for nearly anything is smaller than America's. I guess that Absolut decided that a third world country was more important of a market than the world's biggest consumer.
GREAT CHOICE GUYS!
The funny thing is, if the map really did look like that today, citizens of Mexico would probably still be trying to illegally cross the border into the US.
Anyone who says that Mexicans are trying to reclaim their land is full of it - Florida, Illinois and the New England area all have rather large Mexican populations.
They (mostly) come here because of how horrible the Mexican Economy is - nothing more, nothing less.
I am not offended by the ad. It's just an ad catering to an audience. But the idea or notion of the ad is offensive, in that it can not be applied to situations.
As other posters have said, there would be much more outcry or derision if this if this was about Japan or Germany in WW2.
Hey, why not make a break into Asian market. You could use a map of China and have their flag extend into the contested parts of their country like Tibet or Taiwan.
Or why not South Africa, pre-apartheid?
It's only supposed to non-offensive because it is essentially anti-US.
Oh shit, now I am angry.
The irony of the Mexican American War and Texas' split from Mexico, Texas became overrun with Americans when Mexico couldn't control its border with the U.S.
@thewriteguy: It'd only be accurate if Mexico took the territories in question by force, in the same way Japan seized Asian territories.
Like it or not, Americans, we kinda took those lands through unprovoked aggression because we thought it was our god-given right to do so. Now, it's a bit too late to do anything to reverse it, but there's nothing wrong with bringing up historical fact. Nor is there anything wrong with people on the "other side" of the fence continuing to have a beef about it.
Clearly history itself is anti-american. oh noes.
Grow up america. History exists.
I'm not offended.There's nothing Mexico (or Absolut) can do about the border nowadays anyway,so what the hell ? Party on.
Yeah, I'm actually more offended by the giant vodka bottle over Venezuela.
I wonder how many people who are raging about this ad thought Muslims should just get a thicker skin about that Danish Mohammed/bomb cartoon.
It cuts both ways, people.
Just reflects America's diminishing prominence in the world.
Also, America is that LAST country that should be offended about anything.
@Mr_D: Grossly false analogy. America is not threatening to bomb or murder Mexican people over this, whereas many Muslims are.
It is one thing to be offended and express a distaste, but its another to start threatening (and acting out) violence.
@johnarlington: Texas was an independent republic before it became part of America. Texas became overrun with settlers because Mexico actually wanted them to come there.
I think it's great.
Highly offensive, pandering to Mexico. I would suggest that Absolut continue to focus on the Mexican vodka market (not that I drink their crap anyway).
"...depicts our borders as they existed before the 1848 Mexican-American war..."
It seems pretty accurate for 2008, too.
@Mr_D: If people start bombing the Mexican Embassy and randomly killing Mexican the analogy is a really good one.
If not, it reflects poorly on your intellect.
Could go either way.
@Mr_D:
I certainly didn't. Why people go so far out of their way to offend other's race, religion, nationality, etc is beyond me.
@Dobernala: My point was that it's rather hypocritical to say that it's "just a cartoon" when others are offended, then get all up in arms about a silly advertisment when it jabs at us.
I'm not saying you, or even anybody who even posts here, is guilty of this. Though I seem to recall the prevailing non-Muslim (and even some Muslim) response to those cartoons was "it's just a cartoon, take it easy". I was just musing.
I thought the Green part was the state of Bushia
It's just stupid. Just because you find Mexicans in a certain geographical location, it doesn't suddenly transform that geographical location into Mexico. I guess I just don't even get their point. It wasn't well thought out, ultimately.
Unprovoked war? I don't think so:
More like America was attacked on its own soil. Trust me, if ever that happened again, the result would be the same, America would kick Mexico's butt again.
@Mr_D: It is just a cartoon. People have done far worse about Jesus in the 21st century and we didn't say, "hmm, lets start killing!"
I bet the next one shows Poland and most of Europe as part of Germany.
They made my province way over-sized. Hence I love it. Go Newfoundland!
This reminds me of an ad for some kind of tea on a sharping cart in a Hannaford in Eastern Mass... "Bostonians, our tea is in the tea aisle. Tories, your tea is at the bottom of Boston Harbor."
Srlsy....it's just a joke, made to inspire confidence in their product as being pro Mexico. Whateves.
It's a joke about a border that was determined 150 years ago and isn't in dispute today. I have a really, really difficult time seeing why it's offensive. It would be like an ad for wine showing an ancient Roman guy sipping his favorite brand looking at a map of Europe under his control... I just don't see the problem.
I'm just chalking this up to ignorance by the vodka company.
Why didn't they include the section before the Louisiana Purchase? Get France in on it and you've got a wider audience.
Hell, Connecticut owned land in Ohio at one point. Include that, and you've got another market of vodka drinkers, although it is Grey Goose country.
@jefffromNY: And this is just an ad. This is not an assault on America. Just as the cartoon is not an assault on Islam. Do you see the parallel yet?
Now, if Absolut decides to start running an ad showing Washington state as part of Canada, the 13 colonies as part of England, and the Louisiana Purchase as part of France, well, then that's another story.
@Mr_D: The difference there tho, nobody in America is suggesting the chopping off of heads or other violence against the ad creators.
Absolut has the right to run whatever ads it wishes, and nobody has the right to not be offended, but justified or not, consumers do have the right to decide not to buy their product.
Oh yea, Grey Goose is much better anyways.
We should just give the land back to Mexico!! Isn't that what everybody is advocating in Israel? Give back land that was taken after being attacked?
The ad is two-faced. As the holder of a Marketing Degree, I understand that sometimes ads won't be understood the same way outside of the market for which they were intended. However, this is far too serious of an issue to be poked fun at.
If Absolut wouldn't want people in the USA reading this, and drawing the conclusions they've drawn, they shouldn't have run it. Their non-apology is offensive too: "we're sorry that you don't understand".
If I were a drinker, I'd boycott Absolut over this.
Honestly, though, what if Absolut ran an ad in Japan showing the entire Pacific island chains, part of China, etc. owned by Japan (like happened for a short time in WWII), followed by the heading "In an Absolut world"? While of slightly less magnitude, I think this Mexican-themed ad is the same concept and just as objectionable.