“Absolut” Madness
Put forth on April 10, 2008 by XicanoPwr
Posted in Civil Rights, Fear, Immigration, La Reconquista fable, Nativism, Prejudices, Xenophobia
As immigration continues to be a big issue in American politics, controversy has erupted over a recent ad campaign for Swedish-based Absolut Vodka. The ad in question reignited the La Reconquista fear among wingnuttia.
The ad shows a historical map of the Mexico before Texas’ Independence and the Mexico-US War of 1846-48 had occurred. The offending map showed when the American Southwest - Texas, California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and part of Wyoming - as we know it, belonged to Mexico. It was not until the signing of “Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo” that not only ended the war, but also defined our present-day borders.
The ad was created by TBWA’s Mexican advertising firm Teran/TBWA. A year ago, Absolut vodka’s embarked in a new campaign strategy, breaking away from the old bottle series. The new Absolut World campaign invites the consumers to imagine their idea of a perfect world; a world that possibly wouldn’t take place but only “in an Absolut World.” The ad was solely geared toward the Mexican market.
According to Roger Dooley, Founder/President of Dooley Direct and author of the Neuromarketing blog, Absolut’s new campaign message is hoping to convey that “Absolut vodka is the closest thing to perfection one can find in this world.” In other words, since the ad was solely geared toward the Mexican market, “unspoken message” was although Mexico will never regain their lost territories, “but you CAN appreciate the perfection of Absolut;” hence the “In an Absolut World” slogan across the map.
As to whether the ad campaign worked in Mexico is still unknown. What is known, the “unspoken message” was not received well here in the United States. Whether the controversy began with Laura Martinez’s blog post honoring the death of her mother or Los Angles Times writing an article about the ad, the end result is the same - wingnuttia falling off it’s hinges.
This all began when conservative columnist Michelle Malkin decided to use the ad to whip up anti-Mexican sentiment by dubbing the ad “Absolut Reconquista.” Soon after, the US media outlets noticed the ad. The outrage by the nativist over this ad has caused inspired an anti-immigrantion, FIRE Coalition, to start anti-Absolut website called AbsolutlyNot.com.
The group also created a new web ad depicting an “Absolut World” as today’s borders with a giant fence between the US and Mexico. The nativist group is also asking people to boycott Absolut Vodka and is demanded that person who approved an ad be fired.
All this has caused Absolut to withdraw the ad and make an apology on its consumer hotline and website after it evoked a barrage of paranoia, racist and xenophobic complaints.
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. - Paula Eriksson, VP Corporate Communications, V&S Absolut Spirits
However, one does have to wonder, knowing the tension between the two countries regarding the immigration issue, one does have to wonder why TBWA would create this ad. Was it simply a case of bad judgment as Evelyn Schlatter of High Country News suggested? Or does this go beyond the immigration issue and the outrage that is taking place is merely faux outrage as Randy LoBasso suggests.
One thing is for sure, in the world of today’s economic and political systems, we are continually bombarded with advertising. Every waking moment, some company is trying to persuade us to by their product. Absolut Vodka is no different. Absolut prides themselves for being edgy, for being able to make “the evening news” so it can get “thousands of articles and countless sound bites of free exposure on TV.”
Did this marketing ploy really come with a price? According to Michael Dawson, author of The Consumer Trap, marketing plays a central role in our lives. It shapes the choices we make, our thoughts, feelings, and even our culture. Marketing specialists are very frank about their purpose: to generate profit by manipulating people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Corporate marketing is a trillion dollar juggernaut run by the power elite with the sole purpose to marginalize us into action. Even if we believe we an can be immune to such manipulation, we are not. Advertisers have spent billions of dollars developing and testing ways to influence us.
Whether the advertising company or Absolut Vodka expected this kind of reaction from wingnuttia, will never be known. But one this is for certain, sadly, even the nativists have a say in Mexico’s “Absolut World.” As the former Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz said a century ago: “Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States!”
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Tags: Absolut, advertising, Immigration, marketing, nativist, Reconquista, Vodka | 
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This is the blog of Edmundo "XicanoPwr" Rocha, a social worker, an activist, freelance writer and founder and editor of The Sanctuary. My interests include: immigration reform, critical race theory and it's interaction with equality/inequality and freedom/oppression as they relate to the experiences of people of color in the Americas.
Para Justicia y Libertad is a Latino-centered political blog focusing on the humanistic perspective of politics, history, and society as they relate to the Latina/o community throughout Texas and the United States.
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Three quick questions:
(1) As a U.S. citizen, why shouldn’t I be offended by an add showing another country with sovereign control over a portion of my country?
(2) How would you expect Canadians or Mexicans to react if Absolut vodka ran an add in the U.S. showing an inverted image with the U.S. taking over portions of Canada or Mexico?
(3) How did Mexico gain “sovereign control” over the “conquered” territory in question? Didn’t the Spanish/Mexicans conquer the previous residents? Why does their prior conquest of the natives give them any higher right to territory than the subsequent conqueror, the U.S.? If we give the territory back to Mexico, will they give it back to the Indians? Taken to the extreme, how many times has England been conquered? The Saxons, the Normans, the Vikings, the Romans? So when do we take a snapshot of history and decide what should be given back to whom?
Welcome Larry.
There is a big different between being upset at the ad company and using this ad as proof of some secret plot to take over this country, which is exactly what the anti-immigration group are trying to do. This plot is as ridiculous as the whole New World Order plot.
I never said that Mexico had “higher right” to their lost territories. Can they not mourn for the lost of their territories just as the Native Americans mourn the lost of their land. I don’t see why we should deny their right to acknowledge the historical fact they lost their territories.
Better yet, let me ask you, why do you feel Colonial Spanish American history should be excluded from our history books the moment these territories entered the Union as a part of the American federation?
I think that is already being done when people talk about the North American Union.
There’s no such thing as bad publicity.
The decision to run this ad was not made without a ton of market research and attention to its effect on the company’s target audience, probably 18…uh, 21-34 year-olds.
I imagine the market research also revealed that any ad that causes major controversy will cement the name of the product in the minds of the target audience.
They probably knew they’d have to pull the ad… after they achieved their desired result: Stirring up the wingnuts for free publicity.
“We’re edgy,” “We’re cool,” and “We’re not afraid to do something daring” are the messages they’re selling.
Had the reichwing ignored the ad, it would’ve disappeared down the memoryhole, along with millions of others.
Welcome Delilah.
You are absolutely correct (no pun intended). I also have to agree with you, they probably knew what they were doing. While the reichwing and the Reconquista conspiracy nuts are all in a tizzy over this ad, the beat will go on for Absolut.
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