Clever advertising isn't always clever

[oly884]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2008/04/mexico-reconque.html

[bamachem]

and now the weak apology comes out...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,346964,00.html

[Erich_870]

Lame. I also contest their northern boarder. They appear to have it just about in the middle of Oregon, not the Oregon/Cali boarder. :headscratch:

Erich

[Cebby]

Since when do Mexicans drink vodka?

[Seanz0rz]

Since when do Mexicans drink vodka?

they would if it meant it would reclaim the southwest of this country, which they already have a pretty good hold of anyway.

[Cebby]

Since when do Mexicans drink vodka?

they would if it meant it would reclaim the southwest of this country, which they already have a pretty good hold of anyway.


If that's the case, then we should be making a play for Canada on what I ingest alone... :drink:

[calrockx]

I don't have any problem with the ad. It's kinda funny/clever for its target audience.

If you're offended by this ad, get over it. It's just a silly advertisement. Yes, a bit needlessly divisive or controversial, but really not anything to lose sleep over.

[neliconcept]

funny or not lol, Absolut shot themself in the foot lol.

not like it could happen, well actually ill keep that to myself

[Good Times]

Sometimes the most controversial marketing pieces are the best way as it generates a lot of attention.

[neliconcept]

Sometimes the most controversial marketing pieces are the best way as it generates a lot of attention.


sometimes but you gotta think of it this way as well, Absolut is having to pay for space (aka Space brokers) in magazines, newspapers, billboards for their ads to be processed, now if they get those ads pulled out of each media they put them in, they just lost a crap load of money. thats money that could have better been spent.

they might not loose money from consumers, but their ad campaign lost its own money.

[calrockx]

lance got exactly at what i was getting at.

and neli....if sales get a healthy enough bump from the publicity, they'll happily eat the ad cost. and i'd have to think they chose specific publications for this ad that wouldn't likely pull it. that is, they're not gonna run it in nascar monthly.

[Bob98SR5]

I don't have any problem with the ad. It's kinda funny/clever for its target audience.

If you're offended by this ad, get over it. It's just a silly advertisement. Yes, a bit needlessly divisive or controversial, but really not anything to lose sleep over.


i dont find it clever at all. its quite stupid, given the tenuous atmosphere of US/Mexico relations. Sure, while it might appeals to some Mexican's yearning for times long past, the flip side is that it can anger people affected by this "reconquista" attitude---so yes, its poorly conceived and poorly timed.

of note, there was a cnn reader poll on this. when i voted, 72% of voters considered this offensive and would boycott absolut. that says alot about the mostly largely liberal/democrat readership of cnn folks

[calrockx]

i'm not interpreting it as "in an absolut world, mexico should reconquer that land", i'm seeing it more as "in an aboslut world, this land wouldn't have been lost in the first place"

it's clever if it reaches it's intended audience well, gets a chuckle, and boosts sales. as an american, maybe i should be offended, but i guess i'm just not that sensitive. just a silly ad.

now what irked me was this ad:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/images2/mexicobillboard.jpg

[oly884]

My thoughts:

The ad was in poor taste and Absolute will most likely have some issues ahead.

Dare I say how the ad would be interpreted if it showed the United States as all of north america (if not the world?). Every other country would be jumping all over the place about this. Am I wrong here?

Yeah, it's an ad, and I don't really care what Absolute does. Their bad, and they'll lose business over this.

I don't drink vodka, so I can't say that I'm going to boycott the product.

[oly884]

as an american, maybe i should be offended, but i guess i'm just not that sensitive. just a silly ad.


I don't think there's any reason for a person to be 'offended' (i hate the word) because, if it's offensive to a person, then just don't look at it, it's simple.

Now, it may show where a company stands on issues, or at least their marketing people, and that may piss some people off (ie. my friends) and as a result, they will just stop buying their products. Heck, if a person wants to stop buying their vodka over this, then so be it. That's the price companies pay when they head down the controversial path.

[neliconcept]

lance got exactly at what i was getting at.

and neli....if sales get a healthy enough bump from the publicity, they'll happily eat the ad cost. and i'd have to think they chose specific publications for this ad that wouldn't likely pull it. that is, they're not gonna run it in nascar monthly.


bad publicity doesnt exactly regulate sales inless people go out to buy bottles of absolut, make a video of themselves smashing the bottles in protest.

just my opinion.

[Bob98SR5]

now what irked me was this ad:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/images2/mexicobillboard.jpg


Chuck,

you bet i remember that billboard b/c there was one right by my house. and that's what i believe is part of the reason why so many non-mexican americans get so pissed off by billboards like this and by that absolut ad. like it or not (and I'm not speaking to you directly), when americans see mexicans at amnesty rallies, waving mexican flags, and saying "la raza" (the race) before everything else and none for the rest, it gets people pissed. america is a pretty accepting country, but when 12 million of another country's citizens who did not come through legal channels and are saying this, yeah, we got a problem.

and back to the ad: the ad could be done for many different countries' histories and produced the same results. living in so cal, you know there's many armenians who have a serious beef with turkey. absolut couldve done a similar map ad with the ottoman empire stretching over (now) armenia and would've pissed off armenians. or, the japanese empire during ww2 stretching over korea, most of china, and down through SE asia. while not quite the same analogy, there are many historical and cultural things to consider before you make something like this. obviously, absolut did not think things through too thoroughly

[calrockx]

i just see the absolut ad as a joke. it's almost jovial - haha, hey look, the us never took this land, weeee, drink and be merry. like i said before, i'm not interpreting it as "viva la revolucion, take back the land".

the noticias 62 one is definitely, um, less benign. to play pretend is one thing, to say this is mexico today and now, that's when i take issue. so yeah, we agree on that second ad.

anyway, not a huge fan of the product absolut.

[neliconcept]

i just see the absolut ad as a joke. it's almost jovial - haha, hey look, the us never took this land, weeee, drink and be merry. like i said before, i'm not interpreting it as "viva la revolucion, take back the land".

the noticias 62 one is definitely, um, less benign. to play pretend is one thing, to say this is mexico today and now, that's when i take issue. so yeah, we agree on that second ad.

anyway, not a huge fan of the product absolut.


yeah thats one thing

absolut, only thing they are good at is making a nice typographic logo. everything else sucks, im a stoli fan.

[MTL_4runner]

If that's the case, then we should be making a play for Canada on what I ingest alone... :drink:


Just be sure to bring your snowblower.....
We still have 3ft of snow on the ground and it'll probably snow all summer too. :laugh:

[04 Rocko Taco]

I dislike the Ad. I won't look at it.
I also dislike Absolut, so I didnt buy it anyway.

[surf4runner]

[absolut, only thing they are good at is making a nice typographic logo. everything else sucks, im a stoli fan.

:drink:

absolut sux? absolutely!




they should have been more absolut in their :lame: map...pre columbus maybe???

[dontdo_that]

i'll take Grey Goose over Absolut. I just thought it was stupid and yes, inappropriately timed. I myself am not really offended by it, but the fact that its slightly even controversial does not do good things for their marketing/product.

That second ad, disgusts me. I saw an ad like that in Van Nuys/Panorama City area.

[3rdCoastRunner]

All I have to say is that in even in an "Absolut" world they still would have lost Texas...