They’re insane

The ABSOLUT reconquista ad was not the work of some maverick executive running amok in that company. The company, smugly employing postmodern language, stands behind the ad, as can be seen in the below announcement posted at ABSOLUT’s website.

In an ABSOLUT World according to Mexico

Posted Friday, April 04, 2008, 5:26:34 PM

The In An Absolut World advertising campaign invites consumers to visualize a world that appeals to them—one they feel may be more idealized or one that may be a bit “fantastic.” As such, the campaign will elicit varying opinions and points of view. We have a variety of executions running in countries worldwide, and each is germane to that country and that population.

This particular ad, which ran in Mexico, was based upon historical perspectives and was created with a Mexican sensibility. In no way was this meant to offend or disparage, nor does it advocate an altering of borders, nor does it lend support to any anti-American sentiment, nor does it reflect immigration issues. Instead, it hearkens to a time which the population of Mexico may feel was more ideal.

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.

By Paula Eriksson, VP Corporate Communications, V&S Absolut Spirits

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Alternative ads

Leave aside the anti-U.S. theme for the moment, and think about the decadence of this. The campaign “invites consumers to visualize a world that appeals to them.” That’s the nub of it. Anything you want, we’ll allow you to visualize it. If you fantasize Mexico conquering the Southwest U.S., we’ll allow you to visualize that. But no offense meant to Americans!

Does the Absolut company imagine there will not be serious negative repercussions in the U.S. from this ad? Do they think there will not be serious anger resulting from their cutesy statement that in no way is the ad meant to offend or disparage, nor does it lend support to anti-American sentiment!

Erikson’s statement represents a marriage of aggressive leftism with postmodern denial of meaning.

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The Absolut website is strange. It’s not easy to access, and much of it has black background with dark brown text, so it is impossible to read. There are readers’ comments posted there complaining about the ad. You just have to highlight (select) them in order to read them. Or, better, copy them into another application in order to read them.

- end of initial entry -

James W. writes:

In spite of the Mexican government supporting reconquista ideas and open borders, 50% of Mexicans think those are bad ideas. That is why leadership (ours) is so important, rather than molly-coddling and pandering. A man or a nation receives no more respect than it demands.

Ed L. writes:

Imagine how different the public reaction would be if a German company had run a similar add showing the 1937 borders of the country (much less the 1914 borders). They would have been in for the Geert Wilders treatment from the EU and the UN, as well as a wrathful Putin.

Tim W. writes:

This business of inviting customers to visualize their desired world isn’t going to apply to everyone. Absolut would never in a million years show a map of Mexico annexed by the United States entitled “Absolut Manifest Destiny.” Only those with PC desires may apply.

LA replies:

And remember that this is not a “double standard,” but a single standard. The single standard is: whatever helps weaken, demoralize, and destroy Western man is good. So, when Absolut adopts postmodern lingo about everyone being encouraged to express their ideals, they mean anti-American and anti-Western ideals. When the EU criminalizes hate speech, it only means speech that helps defend the West.

As I’ve written, liberalism liberates that which harms the tradititional West (as in the Absolut ad), and suppresses that which protects the traditional West (as in hate speech laws). It’s not a contradiction. It’s a single, consistent standard. It’s only seen as a double standard by naive conservatives who think that liberalism means a universal code of equality, and that this universal code is being violated. But the conservatives are thinking of the old liberalism which doesn’t exist any more. Instead of appealing to that old liberalism and crying, “double standard?”, instead of asking liberals to follow consistently a universal code that the liberals themselves no longer believe in, traditionalists need to state things as they really are: that liberalism has no superior moral code but is simply anti-Western, and that we are going to oppose it with pro-Westernism.

When conservatives ask liberals to follow the true (i.e., the universal and fair-minded ) liberalism, they are acting just like conservatives calling on Muslims to follow the true, moderate Islam. Our side is forever expecting and asking the other side to show its “good” side. We are appealing to our enemy’s good side, even as our enemy is waging war against us. We need to recognize the enemy as such and start defending ourselves.

Anthony writes:

I though this morning of how best to strike back at Absolut in a language that they could understand. Obviously that would be in the wallet, but as a global company, they’ve obviously calculated this ad would have no repercussions since ostensibly America still conjures images of white people of European extraction. Therefore, the double standard of white bashing as ok, kicks in.

So how about using the EU hate speech laws to give them a bit of their own leftist medicine? We could organize a legal action against the company on the basis that it violates EU hate/thought control legislation much in the same way any mere mention of Islam and its consequences is silenced in Europe. Perhaps someone would be willing to look into filing a charge in Brussels against this irresponsible, arrogant incitement to national hatred as exemplified by Absolut’s ad.

After all, appealing to the nativist sentiments of the citizens of a non-white country at the expense of the still white majority United States is a definite form of provocation. Of course, we probably wouldn’t phrase the lawsuit in racial terms but as bigoted speech creating a climate of “mistrust” and racial/ethnic/national disharmony between two neighboring countries.

LA replies:

Given the real hate speech that minorities get away with, do you think this would be removely considered hate speech? Of course not.

Anyway, by even the broadest definition, this is not hate speech. It’s extremely insulting and offensive. There should be a national campaign to boycott Absolut. People should write to Congress about this. The US ambassador to Sweden should lodge a protest with their government. Better, there should be a move to take away Absolut’s ability to sell its products in the United States.

N. writes:

The more I read about Absolut’s latest “Viva la Raza” advertisement in Mexico, the more bemused I become. Is it insanity, as you posit? Is it smug one-worldism? Is it a side effect of Sweden’s ongoing surrender to the jihad in Malmo and other places? Is it simple stupidity, based on an utter lack of knowledge on the part of Absolut’s management?

Whatever it is, the Absolut advertisement surely is a little landmark in the ongoing crisis; the decline of all standards, the decline of Western civilization itself. Since I don’t drink their product, I can’t really boycott it per se, but can urge others not to do so.

Adela Gereth writes:

In their pursuit of not an Absolut world but an Islamic one, Muslims aren’t bothering to redraw the map of Europe, they’re simply repopulating the continent. Wonder how much vodka the infidels will be allowed to sell once Eurabia is fully

DW writes:

I eagerly look forward to the Absolut ad with a map of the 13 Confederate States of America. Yes, I expect I’ll be seeing it any time now.

Paul K. writes:

When the Mexican visualizes a Mexico whose borders extend throughout the American Southwest, does he visualize staying within those borders, or gong beyond them seek out the civilization created and maintained by Europeans? If the latter, wouldn’t extending the borders of Mexico simply make it more difficult for him to get out of his country, as something like 40 percent of his countrymen wish to do?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 05, 2008 09:53 AM | Send