Malkin 1, Absolut 0
posted at 2:38 pm on April 7, 2008 by Allahpundit
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“More than a dozen calls to boycott Absolut were posted on michellemalkin.com,” notes the AP, but check out the number of comments on Absolut’s first non-apology apology for the Aztlan ad. A dozen conservative blog readers aren’t going to intimidate a company into canceling an ad campaign. Hundreds, though? Behold:
During the weekend we have received several comments on the ad published in Mexico. We acknowledge the reactions and debate and want to apologize for the concerns this ad caused. We are truly sorry and understand that the ad has offended several persons. This was not our intention. The ad has been withdrawn as of Friday April 4th and will not be used in the future.
In no way was the ad meant to offend or disparage, or advocate an altering of borders, lend support to any anti-American sentiment, or to reflect immigration issues.
To ensure that we avoid future similar mistakes, we are adjusting our internal advertising approval process for ads that are developed in local markets.
This is a genuine and sincere apology,
By Paula Eriksson, VP Corporate Communications, V&S Absolut Spirits
Follow the e-mail exchanges posted at MM’s site and compare the tone of the responses after people first started objecting to the apology quoted above, after hundreds had weighed in.
Update: According to the Times’s unscientific poll, 62% found the ad offensive.
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Absolut jackasses.
Will their next campaign show Eastern Europe back under Soviet domination, with a wistful, ectoplasmic Lenin sipping their brand?
They lost any money from me, for good, and from everyone I can tell.
Great ad… if the aim was to injure the company.
(Bail out of their stock, quick!)
profitsbeard on April 7, 2008 at 7:06 PM
Not only will I boycott Absolut, I will no longer go to Mexico after reading the comments at the apology web site.
pat on April 7, 2008 at 7:18 PM
Chalk up another VICTORY.
Zorro on April 7, 2008 at 7:43 PM
While the Americans are boycotting Mexico and Absolut, it seems it would be good for them to take up a more practical form of protest by having more children. I can’t think of anything that would do more to reduce the dangers of massive migration than reversing its direction.
Kralizec on April 7, 2008 at 9:29 PM
Lovin that!!
Viper1 on April 7, 2008 at 9:57 PM
It’s only a victory until a reinvigorated John Mccain becomes president.
Say goodbye to the good old U.S.A.
SaintOlaf on April 7, 2008 at 10:18 PM
Just finished reading the great Malkin thread on the Absolut disaster
Heh, imagine what an ad with the U.S. taking over a good chunk of the world would do to the ’superior’ Europeans (their expansionist past notwithstanding).
Also, how would this ad run in Mongolia? My favorite Mongol, Genghis Khan, is smiling at the prospect.
Entelechy on April 7, 2008 at 10:32 PM
Crybaby Americans complain enough to have an ad that’s running in another sovereign country removed. Hooray! Victory!
If only you knew how many other ads having fun at America’s expense there are out here in the rest of the world.
That some worldly person named pat has posted his/her intention to boycott the entire country of Mexico because a Swedish vodka company ran an ad there is particularly hilarious.
Dave Rywall on April 7, 2008 at 10:40 PM
This will end up in business school textbooks as an example of The Bad Idea.
When they say they were not advocating a change in borders, they are either lying completely and absolutely, or so dumb that someone must help them get dressed in the morning.
How could ANYONE not look at that ad and NOT immediately think, “hey, where did the US go?”
Oh, and we’re all interested to hear at which point Northeast Saskatchewan was Spanish-speaking, since they say they were simply calling up historical spirits or whatever their pathetic excuse was.
You know, if their apology had been “we screwed up bad, we’ve pulled it, and somebody is getting a solid shellacking behind the back shed,” probably 80% of the fury would have been dissipated.
Making excuses for bad behavior makes people MORE angry at you, which I guess they would have learned if they hadn’t grown up in a welfareocracy.
Merovign on April 7, 2008 at 10:41 PM
Oh, look, a troll. Yawn.
Merovign on April 7, 2008 at 10:42 PM
Dear worldly sophisticate, and I assume with certitude, enlightened leftie (I refuse to call you progressive or liberal, as you are neither), you miss the power of individual freedom, because you gave it up a long time ago. Sad.
That’s the only essence of this drive, and one of the main reasons I adore the Americans, those who still possess it. They protect your ass, and yes, they take those other ads in stride, because they’re magnanimous, while you think they’re uneducated rubes. You are the sheep of all sheep, and you can, precisely because some unsophisticated American Soldier covers your back.
Entelechy on April 7, 2008 at 11:00 PM
Entelechy you miss the point entirely, and then smugly proclaim, as many of people like you do, that anybody in the world who doesn’t share your opinion is an ungrateful jerk who doesn’t realize his existence is owed completely to the actions of the American military.
This whole puffy Absolut tantrum is as retarded as calling french fries “freedom fries” and believing you’ve made some awesome moral stand your founding fathers would be proud of.
Dave Rywall on April 7, 2008 at 11:21 PM
No, no, darling Dave Rywall, I didn’t miss any point/s. And they are not “my founding fathers”, but they are my adopted “founding fathers”, and you will never understand.
p.s. I am from Europe and did continue to drink Perrier, when others didn’t. Also, I never called fries anything other than what they are. And, they’re Belgian, just erroneously named French, but not significant.
Entelechy on April 7, 2008 at 11:28 PM
Dave Rywall, just a few examples:
When the cost of coffee went up dramatically in the U.S. a few years ago, the populace quit buying it, and drank tee. The prices came down.
In Canada and Australia the GST (goods and services tax) goes up, no one mopes, until it goes into effect, and then it’s too late. The tea needs to be thrown into the harbor ahead of stupid action, not after. It’s so sad that many humans have given up this free spirit in the name of Utopian crap, under which I was forced to live for too many years. You may have it. Just keep it there. Not welcome here, no way.
Entelechy on April 7, 2008 at 11:37 PM
You have a proclivity for
delusion and paranoiaextreme overstatement. Have you had this condition long? Did it start when your father and mother moved out of town when you where at school? Has there been any recent change in your medications? Do you have a sexual fixation with french fries? Will you will your brain to me when you die? I would be very grateful for the chance to study it.Sigy on April 7, 2008 at 11:40 PM
Spigy you are so, so witty, but you don’t read posts very carefully. No problem, though – an American soldier has made that possible for you. Don’t ever forget it.
Dave Rywall on April 7, 2008 at 11:54 PM
Ahem.
Dave, I live in America. Washington state, actually. I believe I should list this as a “disclaimer.”
And you live exactly where? Narrowing it down to the particular country in question would suit me fine.
It’s mere curiosity, that’s all. Your comments might be seen in a different light with an answer on your part.
Thanks in advance, chap.
wccawa on April 8, 2008 at 12:01 AM
It almost makes me want to start Drinking just so I can be able to boycot these morons!!!
gboy63 on April 8, 2008 at 12:06 AM
I have never even met any American soldiers, Dave. What are they like? Why do you hate them so? Do you hate all Americans, Dave? Did your girl friend leave you for one, Dave? Did your boy friend leave you for one, Dave?
I am very worried about you now as I suspect that you may have a case of Extreme European Inferiority Complex (EEIC). Most Europeans with that syndrome just keep it to themselves, but you seem to be crying out for help. Are you British by chance?
You must be started on an
anti-psychoticanti-inferiority complex drug protocol immediately, Dave. The protocol should include but not be limited to the following medications. Triturating up to very high doses of Donepezil, Galantamine and Rivastigmine.If that does not work then we will have to treat you with electroshock treatment. You just can’t go through life this way, Dave.
Sigy on April 8, 2008 at 12:15 AM
That’s for sure. If it wasn’t for our armed forces protecting the freedom and liberty that makes America great, computers and the Internet might not even exist today. In fact the entire world would be a very different place. Europe might be Soviet, Japan might hold China and the United States of America wouldn’t exist as a nation. Wooden sailing ships might still ply the seas delivering goods to distant shores for all anybody knows.
Dave, people with your mindset have always existed so I don’t hold it against you personally. In the years before the American Revolution, for example, there were colonists who couldn’t understand what all of the fuss was about. No taxation without representation? Dont Tread on Me? Join or Die? They probably felt that these were nothing more than empty slogans and didn’t alter a thing. They didn’t understand why the Sons of Liberty weren’t content with the tea boycott and took matters into their own hands. Why boycott tea at all? The malcontents should have grown some skin and paid the tax instead. After all, people were paying taxes in other parts of the world, so what made the Sons of Liberty so special? Didn’t they realize how much people in various others parts of the world hated the colonies?
Luckily wiser heads prevailed and the United States was born.
FloatingRock on April 8, 2008 at 12:41 AM
No, Our Founding Fathers…….
You seem to have a grasp as to the sense of what it is to be Citizen of the United States, like you read it in a book, but no true grasp of reality as to our common bond, sense of history, and the cost that our Freedom is paid for every single day and night.
You “poo-poo” an ad like this, not even giving it another thought as to the deep run feelings that the majority in this country feel of our failed policies on illegal immigration, and the deaf ears our cries of action fall upon our elected officials.
I will not ask you where you live, sir, but exactly how long have you been living in the United States, if you actually do?
And if you do, do you enjoy your Freedom here?
Seven Percent Solution on April 8, 2008 at 12:50 AM
I’m wondering if this is what happens when a dealer does too much of their own product.
Smirnoff, anyone?
PolitiNOOB on April 8, 2008 at 3:53 AM
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