Absolut’s Beer Goggles On Too Tight
This billboard and press campaign is 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.
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. 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.”
The U.S. is the largest importer of Absolut in the world, so I’m perplexed that it concluded there could be a net gain by this ad campaign. Absolut really blew it by uncorking this one. Perhaps it has consumed too much of its own product. They’ll have plenty of surplus stock to drown in though. But don’t worry, folks. This is in no way a threat to our national sovereignty.
