We generally try to avoid controversial subjects (politics, religion and who’s got the better sports team logo) around The Factor - there’s usually very little mileage in the topic, and we always risk alienating 50% of one side of the debate or the other. Having said that - this internet kerfluffle caught my eye on the weekend, and thought it was blog-worthy - if nothing else but to show the power of blogs as they relate to the advertising and marketing industries.
Sweden’s Absolut Vodka is known for their thought-provoking, clever and sometimes controversial advertisements - we’re all familiar with the magazine and billboard images bearing the bottle shaped imagery. Looks like they went a little far this time, creating a Mexican market ad for their best-selling product using a reworked map of North America, where Mexico - in an Absolut World - sill owns a chunk of California, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona. The ad’s been running for a while, but conservative pundit Michelle Malkin stirred up a hornet’s nest on her blog and before long, readers were pounding the keyboards in protest, bombarding the Absolut blog with comments of outrage and boycott promises. Immigration advocates and illegal immigrant opponents squared off on forums and blogs across the internet. The LA Times blog sums up the controversy thusly -
The billboard and press campaign, created by advertising agency Teran\TBWA and now running in Mexico, is a colorful map depicting what the Americas might look like in an “Absolut” — i.e., perfect — world. The U.S.-Mexico border lies where it was before the Mexican-American war of 1848 when California, as we now know it, was Mexican territory and known as Alta California. Following the war, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo saw the Mexican territories of Alta California and Santa Fé de Nuevo México ceded to the United States to become modern-day California, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona. (Texas actually split from Mexico several years earlier to form a breakaway republic, and was voluntarily annexed by the United States in 1846.)
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., which was not involved in the Absolut campaign. 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.
The controversy has even spilled over onto Wikipedia, where there’s a very heated debate going on about how the entry about the Absolut ad should be handled. The company has since yanked the ad and offered up an apology -
We apologize
During the weekend we have received several comments on the ad published in Mexico. We acknowledge the reactions and debate and want to apologize for the concerns this ad caused. We are truly sorry and understand that the ad has offended several persons. This was not our intention. The ad has been withdrawn as of Friday April 4th and will not be used in the future.
In no way was the ad meant to offend or disparage, or advocate an altering of borders, lend support to any anti-American sentiment, or to reflect immigration issues. To ensure that we avoid future similar mistakes, we are adjusting our internal advertising approval process for ads that are developed in local markets.
This is a genuine and sincere apology,
Paula Eriksson, VP Corporate Communications, V&S Absolut Spirits
Despite the acknowledgment of the flap, and the public mea cupla, it doesn’t look like this one is going to die down anytime soon, with conservative bloggers trying to organize boycotts of every brand of alcohol the label (and various sub-brands) manufactures. Some are even going as far to call for blanket boycotts of Sweden and anything Swedish. On the other side of the debate, the emotions range from being rather non-plussed at all the fuss, to accusing the anti-Absolut folks of something bordering on racism. Personally, I see it as a bit of a tempest-in-a-teapot (a shot glass might be more fitting), and I imagine the Absolut folks had absolutely no idea their ‘clever’ ad would stir up such a strong reaction and outcry. At the end of the day, the lesson is this - while it’s generally true that a little controversy is a good thing, sometimes being contrary can backfire - not so Absolut world this time methinks.
