Absolut Vodka causes a stir with Mexico ad

by Anna Brones on

Absolut Vodka is known round the world for its creative ad campaigns. With the most recent campaign however, the Swedish company managed to cause an uproar from U.S. consumers who threatened to boycott the vodka after seeing the “In An Absolut World” ad which depicted the Southwestern U.S. as a part of Mexico.

The ad only ran in Mexico, but when it was posted to a conservative blog, it began to spark a heated debate, feeding on the controversial issues of illegal immigration from Mexico to the U.S.

In response, Absolut pointed out that the ad was designed for a Mexican audience and intended to recall “a time which the population of Mexico might feel was more ideal.”

Swedes like to stick to their neutral roots, and Absolut ended up releasing an apology. “We are sorry if we offended anyone. . . As a global company, we recognize that people in different parts of the world may lend different perspectives or interpret our ads in a different way than was intended in that market. Obviously, this ad was run in Mexico, and not the US — that ad might have been very different,” stated Paula Eriksson, Vice President of Vin & Sprit. Can’t wait to see what the American version of the ad campaign might be.

Word nerds travel the country correcting America’s grammar

by Aaron Hotfelder on

In his underrated novel Letting Go, Philip Roth describes one character, an English professor at a university, as a man “whose dedication to the principles of grammar could actually cover you with sorrow.” Last week, the Boston Globe described two men who fit such a description, lending still more weight (as if it were needed) to Oscar Wilde’s old aphorism that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.

Not long ago, Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson embarked on a journey they’re calling the “Typo Hunt Across America.” Over the course of their road trip, which began in the northeastern US and has hit places like Charleston, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Albuquerque, the two men have searched for misspelled and ungrammatical signs in restaurants, stores, along the road, and everywhere else.

Carrying Wite-out, tape, markers, and pens, the men try to correct the offending signs as unobtrusively as they can. Says Jeff Deck: “We’re not going after people in a self-righteous manner, like fashion police. Or trying to make them look stupid. Instead, we’re addressing specific errors like confusing ‘its’ for ‘it’s’ or ‘you’re’ for ‘your.'”

Deck added: “Finding and correcting these, even every once in a while, is incredibly satisfying.”

Even as someone who has always been finicky about spelling and grammar, I find myself covered with sorrow by the preceding sentence.

This article is further proof that if you come up with a stupid enough gimmick for your next trip, your story might just land in a major newspaper.

Whole thing here.

Charlton Heston movie trivia and travel

by Jamie Rhein on

When I read that Charlton Heston died last night, an image of him parting the Red Sea as Moses crossed my mind. “The Ten Commandments” was on TV just two weeks ago. While channel flipping, I came across it and he was just getting ready to hold up that staff. According to the New York Times article, the scene where he came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandment tablets was filmed at Mount Sinai.

“Planet of the Apes” has several locations you can also go to and might recognize if you watch the movie. The scene with the top of the Statue of Liberty resting in the sand was filmed in a cove near Point Dume at Zuma in Malibu. The rest of the desert scenes were filmed around Lake Powell (where the spaceship crashed and the crew went to land), Glen Canyon and Page, Utah. I’ve driven through these places and they are gorgeous. I can imagine back in the 60s they were less traveled than today. Malibu Creek State Park was where the ape village was built. Fox Studios use to own the property. Here’s Charlton Heston’s World, a Web site I came across that has several “Planet of the Apes” photos and audio clips.

Other trivia. If you head to Rome, you’ll be near where the chariot race in “Ben-Hur “was filmed at Cinecittà Studios and the Sistine Chapel where Heston played Michaelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy.

As an interesting aside, not movie related, Charlton Heston was involved in the Civil Rights March on Washington with Martin Luther King Jr. With Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination 40 years-ago, just the day before yesterday, and Heston’s death the day after, that struck me. I don’t know why. It just did.

Pico Iyer: Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

by Jamie Rhein on

Pico Iyer, my ultimate favorite travel writer, has a new book out Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. Whenever I see Iyer’s name, it’s like a laser beam calling me to read it.

The book chronicles Iyer’s 30 year history with the Dalai Lama that that began when he first met him. This was back before fame struck either of them. As he told in an interview with World Hum, Iyer got the idea for the book five years ago after the war in Iraq started. Then Iyer began to look into the patterns of the Dalai Lama’s life and travels and Iyer’s own. From my understanding, the book is mostly about the Dalai Lama with Iyer’s presence dipping in and out of depending on the chapter and theme.

The idea sounds fascinating to me. I do think there are people who come into our lives at particular times that are turning points for us. Certain world events offer a backdrop or a heightened sense of awareness in our own day to day meanderings. The book also intrigues me because of my own chance encounters with both Iyer and the Dalai Lama that left an impression.

In Dharamsala, in the courtyard of the monastery where he lives, the Dalai Lama walked right by us as he made his way to address the audience who had crowded in to hear him talk. It was the day before the U.S. went into Iraq. I remember how beamy he seemed when he walked by right where I stood leaning against a fence of the courtyard. Being with people from all over the world at an audience on the day before the U.S. went into Iraq is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It’s an unusual happening at an unusual time in an unusual place kind of thing.

As for Pico Iyer, I had no idea he was in New Delhi when I sat down in my living room with a cup of coffee and the newspaper one morning. There his name was under a things happening today type section. At a writers conference. “Pico Iyer’s at a writing conference!” I sputtered out, spewing coffee. “Pico Iyer! Today, as in now,” I moaned. “Oh, why do I find out about these things so late?”

“Let’s go then,” my husband said, grabbing our then one-month old and the diaper bag. He didn’t want to be left stranded for who knows how long until I returned. So there we were, hustling for a taxi. We sat in the balcony of the auditorium during the panel discussion that Iyer was moderating.

Afterwards, I went downstairs to say hello and hand Iyer a short odd little creative non-fiction piece I wrote about him. He shook my hand, seemed pleased, and sent me a thank-you post card later. And that’s my Dalai Lama/Pico Iyer global journey story. I’m not sure what turning point I had in my life as a result of seeing either one of them. I think I’m still waiting, but the encounters make me smile when I think about them, so perhaps, that’s enough. [via World Hum]

Colbert Report: Travel edition

by Jerry Guo on

Last night’s Colbert Report on Comedy Central featured a recurring segment, Threatdown, on the dangers of flying. Colbert labels, among others, pilots and nipples as threats to our national security. Here’s a preview:

“It’s a fine line between a nipple ring and detonation pin on a boob grenade.”