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How To Hurt Your Brand By Absolut
By Jesse | April 5, 2008
With the power of the Internet you’d think a company wouldn’t be foolish enough to run an ad like this even if it was in another country. Sure you may have appealed to the citizens of Mexico, but you sure didn’t make many friends in the United States with this ad.
Read the full story at the LA Times Blog.
So what vodka will you be drinking from now on?
Popularity: 12% [?]
Tags: Absolut, Ads, Mexico, Vodka
Topics: Drinks |
April 5th, 2008 at 11:54 am
I’m a big fan of the “voting with your dollars” concept. In the future, I plan to vote for Absolut’s competitors. Looks like it’s Grey Goose time.
(Seriously, Absolut, WTF?)
April 5th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
While I agree that the execution of the ad is seriously flawed, I think it is daringly creative, at least from the perspective of someone in the industry. That said, talk about a backfire in the American market. Time will tell if they manage to sell enough vodka in Mexico to offset the numbers of angry drinkers here. Part of me also wonders how this ad would play in parts of Europe, too, in the areas where our friends are scarce.
My bet is that Absolut will be shopping around for a new ad agency after this.
April 5th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
[…] (and ladies) you may resume your martini-tipping. (Kudos to Cigar Jack for drawing my attention to the original Absolut […]
April 5th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
No Grey Goose here, I still have an issue with France… I guess I will have to try Skyy and Belvedere. It is a sad thing, Absolut has always been my go to brand for some good summer drinks.
April 6th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Joe - Are you in the ad biz? With that said, I know Absolut went with the Axis Agency to head up its multicultural advertising, so they’re probably responsible for the ad.
As a former marketing/advertising reporter, I’m not sure how I feel about this.
April 6th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Skyy isn’t too bad, but I don’t buy really expensive vodka as my wife mainly uses it in her mixed drinks.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:22 am
People are upset by this? How silly.
In an Abolut world, we’d all be bending a knee to King Olaf anyway.
The mouthbreathers who are really upset by this are too busy drinking domestic macrobeer to notice.
April 7th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
As someone who works in marketing (albeit online marketing, rather than “traditional” marketing), I have to agree with Joe. It’s a daringly creative ad, but obviously flawed in that they didn’t consider the effect it would have on the American market (which I assume has traditionally been larger than the Mexican market for Absolut).
That said, when I do dip into the vodka, I’m typically drinking Smirnoff.
And, I do have to say that, as a Canadian, I do find this ad a bit amusing. I have absolutely nothing against America or Americans (some of my best friends…), but I do enjoy the occasional playful jab in your direction. :p
April 7th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Adam go back to your igloo! :o)
April 7th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Haha! Sorry, I couldn’t resist. To be fair, if there were a comparable ad involving Canada, I’d probably be laughing at it as well.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Whether you agree with the underlying politics of the ad or not, you’ve got admit they certainly created a HUGE buzz and generated a lot of free coverage for their brand. In the end, the number of people they wind up pissing off is going to be negligable when compared to the number of new people they’ve exposed to their product. I would imagine this was a calculated move from the get-go as most controversial advertising schemes are. Chances are, people will still be talking about this stunt in years to come. In the end, the ad has been retracted (quite predictably, given the “furor”, but hey, that’s just more coverage…) http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080408/us_nm/mexico_absolut_dc
April 9th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Daniel,
Sorry, I didn’t notice I got a direct reply in the comments. I’m a designer, and work with ad/marketing agencies. So technically, I am, but it could be considered a loose association, I guess.
April 12th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
[…] wrote about Absolut’s stupid ad they ran awhile back. Well American made SKYY Vodka responded with a press release. Today, […]