A controversy has erupted over an Absolut® vodka ad campaign in Mexico which depicts the US-Mexican border as it was in the early 1800s – with Mexico controlling California and much of the Southwest, report Deborah Bonello and Reed Johnson for The Los Angeles Times:
The colorful ad, created by the Teran\TBWA agency and the vodka maker, is a sight gag depicting what a map of North America might look like “In an Absolut world,” i.e., a perfect one.
It shows the Mexican border extending, very roughly, to its position during the 1800s before the Mexican-American War.
At that time, California as we now know it was part of Mexican territory and known as Alta California. Those territories eventually became U.S. property after the voluntary annexation of Texas and, later, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Read the full story at the link above. Strangely, the article – at least the online version – doesn’t include the actual ad, so readers have to use their imaginations. You can see it at Monsters and Critics, though (scroll down).
Many are now boycotting Absolut as a result of the ad. I rarely drink vodka at all, but I recall a few years back, a blind taste test was won by Smirnoff’s premium brand over all the trendy foreign labels.
When emotions run hot and tempers begin to flare, America looks to the calm wisdom and sober judgment of Frank J. at IMAO, who isn’t worried, and imagines this conversation:
MEXICAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT: Yay! I’ve made it to America!
MEXICAN OFFICIAL: I’m afraid not. We took over most of the west coast. You’re still like a thousand miles from the American border.
MEXICAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT: Crap. Do you have any work I can do?
MEXICAN OFFICIAL: Of course not. This is Mexico.
