An Absolut-ly Bad Idea
I guess Americans aren’t the only ones with a tendency toward cultural insensitivity. I’d barely finished yesterday’s post, “Culture In Business” when I saw this article:
“Absolut vodka pulls ad showing California in Mexico”
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The distillers of Sweden’s Absolut vodka have withdrawn an advertisement run in Mexico that angered many U.S. citizens by idealizing an early 19th century map showing chunks of the United States as Mexican.
The consequences of Absolut’s advertising faux pas?
Absolut’s blog cite has received more than a thousand comments since the ad campaign was launched a few weeks ago, with many calling for boycotts of the Swedish company.
Absolut defended itself, saying the ad was meant to appeal to “Mexican sensibility”. If the company had any cultural awareness at all it would have steered away from an issue as politically and culturally charged as this. Because of its ignorance, Swedish Absolut Vodka likely lost customers, and will be forced to spend a lot of marketing dollars trying to win back US consumers.
Advertising that challenges public opinion and questions social norms is outstanding. Advertising that ignores public opinion and absently steps on social norms can be a death sentence.
Had this been a planned campaign, I might be willing to call it a success. The quick withdrawl of the ad and the flimsy apology on Absolut’s blog, though, demonstrate a fatal lack of marketing oversight.
It might have been a cute idea in the brainstorming session, but there are still steps every smart marketer goes through before releasing a brainstormmed concept into the market. Absolut seems to have skipped not only step B, but steps C, D, E, and F on their way from step A (brainstorming) to step G (publishing the ad).
Let’s see if Absolut’s marketing department can save what little brand equity they still have with the US in the weeks to come …