On Sunday, Absolut Vodka pulled an ad they had running exclusively in Mexico. Yet, even running just in Mexico, the ad quickly spread across the border to the US and had Americans up in arms. With immigration the issue that it is in the US, Absolut probably should have thought twice about running an ad suggesting half of the US belonging to Mexico would 'hearken to a time which the population of Mexico may feel was more ideal.' Hmm...
Absolut states that the ad was not meant to reflect immigration issues or anti-American sentiment, but how could it not? Especially when they're saying it's meant to bring back thoughts of a better time for Mexico by focusing on an old map that shows a large part of the US as Mexican. I realize that Absolut is a playful company and generally I'm a big fan of their ads, but they had to realize the underlying message in that ad—intended or not. It was just sloppy.
While I'm not particularly offended by this ad, I can definitely see how it might get some Americans upset. To use a sensitive issue to both the US and Mexico to market vodka wasn't Absolut's finest hour. Absolut says the ad wasn't intended for the US market, but in the Internet day and age they were very naive to think it would never be seen here.
1 comment:
So what happens to the creative team that came up with this concept? Exile?
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