Absolut on How to Lose Customers with Historical Maps

What were they thinking? The Absolut vodka company was running ads in Mexico featuring an 1830s map showing the southwestern U.S. as part of Mexico and featuring the line, “In an Absolut World.” It’s part of a campaign depicting “ideal scenarios,” according to the AP. It’s a clever ad, and I’m sure it played well in Mexico. But, shockingly, it came to the attention of some humorless U.S. citizens. Cue the calls for boycotts, the angry letters and Absolut’s apology.

Said Absolut as part of its mea culpa:

“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…”

Ya think?

We file map-related posts like these in our blog category Geography for Fun and Profit. But for Absolut, this is more like Geography for Headaches and Losses.

Talk about mapping dangerously.

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