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.

Breaking News! Travelocity Gnome terrorizes South American town! Eats chickens! Steals babies!

by Grant Martin on

Video from The Sun surfaced this morning showing an alleged gnome running around an Argentinian town, scaring the living daylights out of local teens. My thoughts are that this is either a hoax or a clever viral marketing campaign courtesy of Travelocity. Watch the video below and just try to fight the urge to book a three day two night cruise to Cancun and Belize. But it’s such a good deal!

Be sure to check out the Sun Article here.

Hocking countries as products

by Neil Woodburn on

There are a lot of different factors that go into deciding which country will be the next you visit. In an attempt to influence this decision and direct you towards visiting a place eager for your tourist dollars, many local tourist boards have hired international marketing agencies to package and sell their homeland as though it were just another soft drink or pair of sneakers.

Branding a country is an important step towards identifying it with the things a potential visitor might love. In other words, making it an attractive enough place that an undecided traveler might add it to his itinerary. In some cases, this might mean putting lipstick on a pig, but for the most part it simply means highlighting the positive aspects of a nation that might have otherwise been unknown to the world at large.

Branding countries has become a lucrative advertising niche these days as the battle for tourist dollars continues to heat up. NPR reporter Eric Weiner tackles this interesting concept with a recent interview of marketing guru Sherif Sabri. My favorite part of the article is when Sabri addresses the results of a recent survey indicating that Australia has the best brand. He points towards Crocodile Dundee as the primary cause of such positive feelings towards the Land Down Under. “It’s a magical combination of a great deal of ignorance,” he says, “and a small amount of very positive and probably skewed belief.” Marketers love that type of environment and will capitalize on it every time.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 11: North Korean Style Advertising

by Neil Woodburn on


Billboards are a ubiquitous presence in most any major city. Depending on local ordnances, they may fill the entire side of a building, dominate cityscapes, or simply appear on the roadside in a variety of shapes and sizes.

The city of Pyongyang is no exception. The only difference is that there is only one product being advertised here: communism.

Propaganda is the evil step cousin of advertising and the North Koreans embrace it as eagerly as an account executive on Madison Avenue pitching for the Coca Cola business.

Although there’s certainly nowhere quite like Times Square in Pyongyang, there is hardly a spot in the capital where one is not exposed to a billboard or mural extolling the virtues of communism, North Korea, or either one of the Kims.

And just in case someone is blind, a fleet of propaganda vans with speakers mounted atop drive around the city pumping out the latest rhetoric.
Naturally, the state controls the mass media as well, jamming incoming foreign transmissions and making it technically impossible to tune into any other broadcast except for the official state one. This, in part, is controlled by producing radios with only a single FM button and absolutely no dial! I had one of these North Korean specialties in my hotel room and sat staring at it for the longest time; it was simply impossible to change the station and it left me feeling completely powerless.
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In addition, there is no such thing as the internet in North Korea or cell phones. Anyone entering the country had to leave their cell phones with customs officials who kept them locked up and inaccessible for the entirety of our stay. And I certainly didn’t get a copy of USA Today under my hotel room door.

Surprisingly, being cut off from the outside world was actually somewhat enjoyable for the five days I spent in North Korea. I quite liked the freedom of not being tied to my cell phone and email and relished in the ignorant bliss of not being exposed to troubling international news. This isolationist cocoon where the state controls everything you hear and see, however, would not have been fun for too long. Living an entire life under such conditions would be hell.


There was one brief glimmer of hope, however. One day when driving around the outskirts of Pyongyang we passed a billboard doing what billboards do throughout the rest of the world: selling a product. Someone has managed to erect North Korea’s first (and only?) billboard, and as you can see, it’s advertising brand new automobiles.

And that, folks, is the slippery slope of capitalism.

Yesterday: The Followers of Kim
Tomorrow: A North Korean History Lesson about the U.S.S. Pueblo

Kingfisher to Jet Airways: We Changed You!!

by Justin Glow on

This is cool.

Kingfisher, a lovely Indian beer and airline, took note of a competing airline’s billboard and responded to it with their own. “We’ve changed,” the Jet Airways billboard says. Kingfisher responds with a billboard of their own reading, “We made them change!!” And a guy in a green shirt on another billboard looks away as if nothing happened. [via]