Sparks continue to fly over Absolut's Mexico ad

The furor over the Absolut vodka Mexican border ad roars on. The Drudge Report posted a link to our post yesterday showing the ad and including the tagline,  "ABSOLUT runs ads celebrating American Southwest belonging to Mexico..." This indeed pushed the buttons of the Drudge readers. The comments have been pouring in.

Our friends at the Top of the Ticket blog put a political spin on the ad with "WWDHD? WWTTD? (What Would Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo Do?)."

"...what would the impact be on the presidential campaign? You know, just hypothetically speaking, over a glass of vodka on a Friday afternoon.

Well, Hillary Clinton would be out -- the Latino vote in the current Southwest would be voting in Mexico -- so you gotta figure Barack Obama facing off against John McCain in the general (assuming McCain moves from Arizona).

And without all the wild-eyed liberals out here in California voting, that leaves the northern tier, the Midwest, the Deep South and the Northeast. Advantage: McCain?

You know, if it was an Absolut World. But what we're having the most trouble envisioning is that border fence along the Columbia River."

Reporters Deborah Bonello and Reed Johnson wrote a "From the blogs" follow-up story which ran in today's paper. They included a sampling of the readers' comments to the original blog post.

Absolut used their own blog to describe the thinking behind the ad.

In an ABSOLUT World according to Mexico
Posted Friday, April 04, 2008, 5:24:01 PM EST

We have received many comments on an ad showing what an ABSOLUT world would look like from a Mexican point of view. We are sorry if we offended anyone. This was not our intention. We will try to explain. Though you may not agree, I hope you understand.

The In An Absolut World advertising campaign invites consumers to visualize a world that appeals to them -- one they feel may be more idealized or one that may be a bit "fantastic." As such, the campaign will elicit varying opinions and points of view. We have a variety of executions running in countries worldwide, and each is germane to that country and that population.

This particular ad, which ran in Mexico, was based upon historical perspectives and was created with a Mexican sensibility. 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. Instead, it hearkens to a time which the population of Mexico may feel was more ideal.

As a global company, we recognize that people in different parts of the world may lend different perspectives or interpret our ads in a different way than was intended in that market. Obviously, this ad was run in Mexico, and not the US -- that ad might have been very different.

By Paula Eriksson, VP Corporate Communications, V&S Absolut Spirits

-- Patrice Roe

Comments

[david]

dumb, dumb, dumb. how much vodka were they drinking when they thought of that ad.

[Hugh]

It's good to see that political bloggers and even the Drudge Report are finally noticing that the southwestern US is under cultural attack. A year or so ago a local radio station ran a billboard campaign that displayed the LA skyline with (I believe) a St. Guadalupe de Hidalgo statue. This is all part of an effort to make the idea that Mexico owns this part of the US more palatable, so that when they really make a play for the land they will have already won the mindshare battle.

Please! Mexico wants the land back? Over my dead body.

[Gary Schroeder]

In 1606 this part of the world was know as New Spain. It was not until the Spanish started fooling around with the local Indians girls that we had any Mexicans.

I for one believe in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. We can achieve this objective by adding Mexico and Canada as our 51st and 52nd states.

By offering citizenship to all Mexicans 75% will gladly join the USA. For the holdouts we can recall General Patreus from Iraq to lead The BIG RED across the Rio Bravo to take Mexico City. I suspect it will take less time than it took to take Baghdad. Or we can resurrect General Pershing and let him finish what he started in 1916.

The conquest of Canada will be easier. We will offer amnesty to all hippies who desert in the Vietnam War and found sanctuary in Free Quebec. They will topple the Canadian government in less than 24 hour; that is how eager they are to return to American soil.

With Mexico and Canada subdued the Democrats will not have to offer amnesty to criminals or cancel NAFTA that has benefited most people in the USA. And, The Los Angeles Times can start publishing in Spanish a decade long dream.

This is a win, win, win. Let us hear it for the good old USA!

[horseback]

Just poured a half liter of Absolut Citron down the drain; I'll be making my bloody Marys with Stoli or Grey Goose from now on.

Absolut just gave up a HUGE chunk of the US market share for the sake of kissing a little Latin arse; I can only hope that their profit margins reflect their wisdom. Were I a stockholder, I'd be selling.

As for the map, I've always considered the Mexican claims to the vast majority of that territory to be fantasy; they didn't even have outposts, much less settlements, anywhere near the northern edges of what they claimed. Much of those claims overlapped what the US considered part of the Lousiana Purchase of 1803. Even California in 1846 had fewer than 10,000 Mexican/Spanish settlers in the territory from San Diego to Sacramento (the Russians had claims in the areas north of there), according to a letter sent by the then-governor to his superiors in Mexico, begging for more soldiers and support.

The United States paid gold for that territory at a time when European powers routinely took territory from each other by force of arms without any of the modern criticism that always enters any discussion of the American expansion during the 19th century into lands undeveloped and largely unpopulated before 1845, but there has always been a double standard applied to the USA, and there always will be.

[horseback]

I just poured half a liter of Absolut Citron down the sink.

Absolut just gave up a HUGE chunk of the US market just to kiss a little Latin **s, regardless of their fantasy about 'historical perspective.'

Mexico's claims to most of those territories were not backed up by heavy settlements or even outposts at the far reaches of their claims which the USA relieved them of; California boasted a population of less than 22,000 Mexican subjects (counting about 15,000 converted natives) in 1846 stretching from San Diego to Sacramento, according to a letter written by the then-governor to the capitol in Mexico City.

How many millions live there now, compared to how many that would live there if it were still Mexican territory, and at what standard of living?

We paid gold for the rights to those territories (a large part of which were also claimed as part of the Lousiana Purchase from France in the early 1800s) at a time when European powers routinely took territory from each other solely by force of arms, without the modern criticism the US routinely gets for its own expansion into the undeveloped and sparsely populated area west of the Mississippi River.

The Swedish parent company of Absolut is entitled to engage in whatever sort of advertising campaign they wish without interference, but I and millions of other native born Americans of European descent also have the right not to buy their products when they choose to insult us and our nation.

[Orest Guran]

How about a Absolut add that shows most of Sweden owned by Russia, Poland and Denmark (historically speaking of course).