In an Absolute World

[fieldarchy]

There has been some hooplah over an Absolut Vodka ad. Do you think the reaction from the US was warranted? Do you think it was an over-reaction?

Here\'s the story:

In an Absolut World

 

[squidders]

There\'s nothing I hate more than lines on maps and people with no sense of humour!

American reaction indeed!

Here\'s a reaction: http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/

 

[No Such Agency]

I think people are touchy because of the whole immigrant issue right now. A lot of Americans think that Mexicans really do want to \"take over\" the southwest, a fear reinforced every time they hear Spanish being spoken in public. Not a terribly bright move on Absolut\'s part, but then again, they make mediocre vodka so no real surprise there

 

[Thunderhawker]

As they say: \"F***\'em if they can\'t take a joke.\"

 

[fieldarchy]

yeah I think that some people take certain things a wee bit too seriously. I mean this isn\'t a huge problem, in fact in my opinion it\'s not a problem at all. If Absolut wants to run that ad then so be it. It\'s no worse than some of the incredibly racist stereotypical depictions you see on adverts here in the states.

Church\'s Chicken is very subtle with their stereotyping undertones. I\'ve noticed that every time they have an ad running that features an individual they are almost always of african origin or they have a hispanic name. So . . . white people don\'t eat fried chicken? <shrugs> Is it that it\'s the choice of the \"poor man\" . . . they can\'t afford something better to eat? But since whites are the \"majority\" we should stop running the ad?


What would the majority of the worlds population do if they ever had a real problem?

 

[supervike]

I think the Absolut is just trying to play on racial tensions too. They knew very well what they were doing, they got caught with their pants down, and now they are in \'spin\' mode. I\'m sure a marketing executive is looking for work right now because of this fiasco.

I do, however,see the humor in it, but for many folks living in these border states, it\'s like rubbing salt into the wound. I\'m sure they fail to see the humor.

The \'reason\' American folks think that Mexicans want to reclaim that land is because they say so, everytime there is a Mexican-Heritage parade or protest. It\'s not something \'white america\' is making up, the Mexican-Americans are actually saying it! And if you don\'t think that is in the mindset of the community, you haven\'t been listening.

Tensions are high all across the country because of the non-existant immigration laws. Minnesota people are up in arms because an illegal immigrant crashed into a school bus, killing two young boys. This person, who shouldn\'t have been here in the first place, had another very serious car accident 2 years prior. Yet she is still in the country. In that, she drove thorough someones yard, and into their house!

If those laws actually meant something, then the lady should have been deported the first time! But, for some reason, our countries Government is ignoring these laws. And THAT is what pisses me off the most. I\'m all for anyone coming to America to have thier chance at the \'american dream\' but just do it legally. I am a law abiding citizen. I pay my taxes, I try to drive the speed limit. If I think the system is broken, I\'ll try and change it through legislation, I don\'t just pick and choose which laws to abide by!!

And, Meg, fast food joints notoriously marketing towards \'people of color\'. We don\'t have any \"Churches\" around here, so I can\'t say anything about them--but I do notice it in the McDonalds and Burger King ads....

 

[airhead]

Originally posted by supervike
...The \'reason\' American folks think that Mexicans want to reclaim that land is because they say so, everytime there is a Mexican-Heritage parade or protest. It\'s not something \'white america\' is making up, the Mexican-Americans are actually saying it! And if you don\'t think that is in the mindset of the community, you haven\'t been listening.

Try aztlan if you don\'t believe it.
And FA, just wait until next years immigrant day off and see what they are saying.

 

[Jazz is for losers]

I never liked the one where the bottles push one of their \"impure\" comrades off the shelf. Apart from encouraging intollerance, it is a waste of vodka.

 

[No Such Agency]

Originally posted by airhead
Try aztlan if you don\'t believe it.

I\'ve heard of these people, but it\'s not like they actually have any power to change the borders of the country. Any twit can fly a flag and host a website and round up a thousand other uneducated twits to follow them, but the Constitution would still apply.

We in Canada have our own experience with racially cliquish separatists, and they have yet to even get the majority of their own group to agree with them. And a good thing too, because if Quebec ever separated there\'s a good chance they would treat their own minorities (immigrants, Natives, Anglos) a hundred times worse than they\'ve ever been treated by the English. Not to mention both economies would tank, and the 10th Mountain Div. would probably cross the border to \"restore order\".

 

[treide]

Originally posted by fieldarchy
So . . . white people don\'t eat fried chicken? <shrugs>

I for one would love to see an ad with two rabbis chowing down on a bucket of KFC!

Seriously though, I think the ads target minorities because they do comprise a greater percentage of low income families and therefore would be more likely to choose fast food as it is within their means.

And since when was vodka the favored beverage in Mexico? Tequila and mescal rule!

 

[Shawn R. L.]

I\'m living it every day. We are being FLOODED by Mexicans who have no regard for our borders, and (been documented) are sucking off the system so hard that hospitals are going out of business, social security which was in bad shape is going down much faster. They kick in the door to our country, take what they dont deserve, we citizins paid for the social welfare system they are devouring. They come here not wanting to assimilate, they DEMAND that we accomodate them...............Pissed........you bet!

Politically incorrect to say these things? - I\'m past the point of caring. We\'re being overrun.

 

[fieldarchy]

Originally posted by airhead

Originally posted by supervike
...The \'reason\' American folks think that Mexicans want to reclaim that land is because they say so, everytime there is a Mexican-Heritage parade or protest. It\'s not something \'white america\' is making up, the Mexican-Americans are actually saying it! And if you don\'t think that is in the mindset of the community, you haven\'t been listening.

Try aztlan if you don\'t believe it.
And FA, just wait until next years immigrant day off and see what they are saying.

Yup The Conquest of Aztlan is a real movement. People really are trying to organize enough to take the southwestern states of the US back from us.

Now see what I have a hard time understanding is why are there ill feelings when the US acquired the southwestern states from primarily the spanish over 100 years ago???

People, can\'t we all just drop grudges and learn to live in the world as it is?

The thing that kills me is that minorities are always yelling for equal rights yet they are the ones usually keeping racist sentiment and a feeling of entitlement alive. They encourage the breeding of contempt for whites because we are the dominant and affluent race . . . but look at history. It\'s not like whites didn\'t work hard to get where they are at. Heck I\'ve worked my butt off in my life to stay in the middle class! I\'m by no means in the upper middle class but I\'m securely in the middle class. But I\'ve put myself through college for two degrees by the age of 23 in order to secure my success.

If people would work hard and not look for handouts and learn to live without a chip on their shoulder something that happened generations past, they may in fact have a better life. It\'s not my fault the mexican down the street doesn\'t make as much money as I do. That\'s his fault! I just happened to work hard and get lucky with a couple of opportunities.

 

[supervike]

There is a lot of flawed thinking out there that believes minorities are incapable of being racist, since, by simply being minorities, they are the \'oppressed\'. It\'s seriously bad thinking.


Of course, racism is not dead in the majority either. There is still institutionalized racism, we haven\'t beat it completely, and there is a long way to go....But to think it is only a one way street is dangerous.

But, I think the Mexican ILLEGAL immigration problem has very little to do with racism, and much more to do with the sovereignty of our country. We are absolutely being invaded covertly, and yet our politicians deem it important to ignore the issue.

But, America does need the workforce and I\'m happy to see folks emigrate within our borders. Just as long as it is legal. Thats not too much to ask is it? To get our government to enforce the laws that are already on the books?

 

[Thunderhawker]

Originally posted by supervike
Thats not too much to ask is it? To get our government to enforce the laws that are already on the books?

Apparently it is. The problem with politics is that its run by politicians. Vote\'em all out. Legislate by lottery. Make it like jury duty!

 

[jahminis]

i don\'t think that this absolut add bein\' used in mexico is offensive to americans...
it\' s a real map, from a real point in history...now if it had been posted up all over downtown l.a., it would be a different story...

yes, illegal immigrants not bein\' as culpable for crimes and contributions to the system is a big problem...i do know a lot of people that have been deported back to mexico though...some of my friends have been deported a couple times!!! yay, the system works, yeah right!!!

racism works both ways for sure...growin\' up in l.a.(raised by a very nice mexican lady), and havin\' friends from all races, i never got the point of racism...we are all humans...
in my travels, i have been targetted by plenty of racism though...in mexico, anytime i got work, the locals treated me like i was the biggest a-hole in the world, even though i speak mexican spanish, and have a tan as dark as the locals...
when i\'m workin\' for $10 a day in the tropics, i\'m not about to take crap from anybody...i was treated like i was the scout for a whiteboy invasion south of the border...i don\'t know many americans who want to work as a gardener in the 100 degree heat for $10 a day...
the craziest part about it was that i was workin\' for the gringos, since the locals wouldn\'t give me work to begin with...

up here in alaska i get slagged as a racist by the natives everytime i try to collect rents for the apartments i run...the natives here get more money from the government than natives in any other state, and live very well...it\'s not my fault that they wanna party instead of payin\' rent...if i had a nickel for everytime i\'ve heard \":cussing: whiteman\", i\'d be a rich man...yet they say i\'m the racist!!!

as for the mexicans in the southwest, and the cubans in miami, wantin\' spanish to be spoken as a first language, that\'s crazy...bein\' bi-lingual is cool, bein\' multi-lingual is even better...when i go to a country that doesn\'t speak english as a first language, i learn the local dialect... seems like common sense to me... foreigners(myself included) have to assimilate into the local culture to gain the richness that culture\'s have to offer... expectin\' to have a local culture change to suit your needs is crazy...some people come to america, and get it... unfortunately, most don\'t...i once had an old cuban guy reply to me askin\' him how he had been in miami for 25 years, and still didn\'t speak english, with \"you should be speakin\' spanish\"...funny thing was, we were speakin\' spanish!!!

when i married a girl from japan, i worked on my japanese, in the netherlands i work on my dutch, in france i work on my french, in mexico i work on my spanish, and so on...adaptability is one of the strengths we have as humans...blindly stickin\' to out of place traditions is ignorance...change is the only constant in life...to adapt and overcome is the historical root of our nation, and that\'s a beautiful thing...

one love...

cheers
jah

 

[alextheartist]

Originally posted by Jazz is for losers
I never liked the one where the bottles push one of their \"impure\" comrades off the shelf. Apart from encouraging intollerance, it is a waste of vodka.

Thats smirnoff vodka over the pond lol

At least the polish imagrants work like effing slaves when they come over. They come over and work, so they can send their familys money, and they work dammnd hard too!

 

[Gearhead]

I\'ve lived near the border most of my life. I know people from all over and from all walks of life.

There is a strong notion among many Mexicans that it is their right and duty to retake the Southwestern United States. Vicente Fox said in a symposium of intellegista once that Mexicans who move to the US and refuse to speak anything besides Spanish were doing their \"Patriotic duty.\"

Obviously not all Mexican citizens feel this way, but it\'s a very real phenomenon, and not one that should be taken lightly.

I don\'t know what Absolut was intending when they ran these ads, but I don\'t think it was as innocuous as they claim. I doubt it was trying to incite anything, but it sure does seem to be playing to some popular \"reconquistadore\" sentiments.

 

[mrrocknroll]

I saw this in the paper this morning and laughed at the map the 1st time I saw it, then I read the story of what\'s gone on. My take on the whole thing is this, why should it offend people? it\'s referring to some war that happened back in the 1840\'s which I do believe that the U.S won? I suppose we\'re all subjective to our own offences so meh.
Subject on racism. I have no problems with people of any race / culture / religions / skin colours, It\'s a fact that without the people who came over to the UK in the 50\'s (mainly Indians (not red skin ones)), our country would never have been able to cope with post world war 2, for which we should all be grateful for.
Only thing I disagree on is when people coming to a country and not bothering to try and learn/speak the language, when I go way to France or Sweden for holidays I try and speak the language out of common decency.

 

[philologus]

Originally posted by fieldarchy


Now see what I have a hard time understanding is why are there ill feelings when the US acquired the southwestern states from primarily the spanish over 100 years ago???
Who took it from the natives, who supposedly migrated from somewhere else and probably disposessed another group...... The historical reality is land belongs to whoever can hold it.

People, can\'t we all just drop grudges and learn to live in the world as it is?
No...As much as we all want to belive in a Golden Age of Humanity, people have always been inherently bad.

The funniest part about the whole thing is: this originated in a marketing department in Sweden. Fairly ethnically homogenous population there.

 

[spazzy]

Absolut was trying to cater to a certain type of demographic that they didn\'t have a good hold on, and somebody else got cheesed about it. They were playing the odds and lost.

The problem of illegal immigrants isn\'t going to go away. Plain and simple. And as far as history goes, tell me exactly how many civilizations were NOT settled after another group of individuals who had previously inhabited that space were booted out. Groups of humans are constantly migrating and conquering. Grass is greener over the next border...