Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Absolut Says "Bite Me" America

Oh, you crazy Swedes, now you've gone and done it. With your off-kilter sense of humor you went from vodka to immigration and allegations of anti-US sentiments in 1.2 seconds flat. Didn't anyone ever teach you not to mix stiff drinks with politics?

It's very amusing to me that Absolute picked Mexico as the focus of its ad. Seems like they could have picked just about anyone who has lost in history and plucked on their nationalistic heart strings: The Aztecs before the Spaniards; Native Americans before the Europeans; Palestinians before Israel; Israelites before the Diaspora; Russia before the end of the Cold War; Vietnamese before the Vietnam War; Koreans before the Korean War; Pakistanis and Indians before the British; Africans before cololialism; and the list goes on and on. And let's not forget the Vikings before they calmed their sea-faring ways.

I don't believe for a minute that the Swedes are conducting a not-so-covert advertising blitz aimed at encouraging Mexican nationalism and drumming up anti-US sentiments. Probably, someone at Absolut just came back from vacation in Tulum where they fell in love with Mexico and happend to pick up an inspiring old map of the region. History is interesting, after all. I for one have an old map on my wall of centuries ago when the Swedes ruled huge sections of Denmark and Norway (Go Swedes!).

Some things really should not be taken so seriously. I mean, really, don't the people worried about the US's reputation have bigger things to worry about? Isn't there a war going on?

2 comments:

Tracy said...

Hi Buttercup,

Guess what? I am an auntie! I have pics on my blog if you want to see!

xoxo and have a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

The Vikings actually did quite well. They eventually took over northern France and were known by then as Normans (Northmen). Then as you probably know, they moved on to invade England and greatly influence the English language and culture.

This is why classy food like venison gets its name from French (the conquering Vikings) and peasant food like ham (hamme or hamm) gets its name from Anglo-Saxon (the conquered Germanic-ish people).

Even in America today we continue our Viking heritage by raping and pillaging other countries.