Freedom of expression is not a law of advertising, nor are historical accuracy, truth or justice.
The laws of advertising center around one idea and only one idea: what sells.
The makers of Absolut vodka have been forced by public pressure to pull an ad from their marketing efforts in Mexico. Who knew Mexicans were buyers of Swedish vodka? I didn’t.
Did any of us realize that people in the U.S. are the watchdogs of the advertising content of a Swedish company that sells vodka in Mexico? And what–if anything–do the Chinese have to say about it?
This is the offensive ad:
It’s a photo of a map of North America from pre-1848 showing the political borders of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada (among others) as they were before the U.S. annexed the parts of Mexico that are now California (my native country), Colorado, New Mexico(hm, I wonder how they came up with THAT name?), Arizona, parts of Texas, etc.
The ad was designed for and only appeared in Mexico. The advertisers felt that it would appeal to Mexicans who yearned for a time when Mexico was larger and less subservient to its “neighbor” to the North, and who also yearned for some really tasty vodka (or, in Mexican Spanish “vodka de gustos”).
Some U.S.-ians have threatened to boycott Absolut vodka because of the ad. As everyone knows, all of the territory shown in the “map” belongs to the U.S. and always has and any “historical documents” that indicate otherwise are obviously wrong and inappropriate.
As with everything else in our absolute world, money, might and social pressures are the things that define what flies and what gets grounded; what talks and what walks.
The writer of this blog merely finds it interesting to be able to witness it actually happening. These things generally happen in darkened rooms behind closed doors.
