Xenophobia is trendy now. They're even using it to sell comics.

Abolut map of Mexico = Danish cartoons of Muhammad. Same fundamentalist frenzy.

As a poor college student, I now am going to have to go into debt to buy Absolut.

argh, seriously? i can't believe that this is a controversy. scary.

The sad part is, this could have all been avoided if the slogan had been "Absolut History" rather than the strangely worded "In an Absolut World", which leaves the meaning open to bat-shit crazy interpretations like this one. Chalk this one up to the cruel mistress of marketing.

Hey, we conquered those brown people and took their land fair and square!

I am so sick of all this crazy batshit border crap. The whole thing about suspending any laws that would prevent the building of the super-paranoia fence, too.
It is getting more shameful to be associated with the US every day :(

They should have drawn it as 'Canada with sideburns', meaning where there are still intelligent people, and JeebusLand in the middle, where the Christian Taliban can wage intranecine holy wars on each other. While drinking good ol' Jeebus-approved cheap booze from the Heartland.

I usually buy Grey Goose, but when I go to the liquor store this afternoon, I'm grabbing some Absolut.

Imagine if the US was hosting the not-yet-revived Olympics in 1848.

#5, sort of. Because of the modern Central/South American borders, this isn't really historically accurate as much as it is alternate reality. Seeing this as a retaking of U.S. soil is a valid, if batshit, interpretation.

Still, is there any basis to the notion that the Reconquistadors want these exact borders? Their claim to Texas would be particularly suspect, considering Texas won a war of succession from Mexico and was subsequently annexed voluntarily into the United States.

The Mexico can have Texas!

It is interesting that they at least show a portion of the continent as the US. I'm curious what a campaign aimed at Iroquois would look like.

Separatist movement, huh? Fascinating. This might go down as the greatest ad campaign of all time.

Absolutely Bonkers

I'm thinking some of the energy for this silliness is coming from pent up enthusiasm that the right wingers won't show for John McCain. They want the spotlight and they want to be involved in some damn thing, but not for their party's nominee.

Anyway, remember how well the Disney boycott worked out?

What is that country in the middle?

Poor Mexico: so far from God, so close to the USA.

" I’ve never paid any real attention to these anti-immigration people, but they are fucked up crazy-ass racist dickheads."

Ah, yes. Because wanting to protect your borders and ensure folks are taking the same legal approach to enter the country as our parents and grandparents did is SO fucked and racist.

I don't think this boycott is reasonable - it's just an ad, after all, and was probably designed with the intention of knowing it would create controversy - but there is no denying that illegal immigration is a serious problem that has to stop. At least this group is making a stand against it...however misdirected their efforts may be.

#16, doesn't Bill O'Reilly boycott something, like, every week?

Has anybody heard of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?

as a mexican, I love the ad, as an american i love the vodka.

Nope, no, illegal immigration isn't a problem in this country. And global warming is anthropogenic. And second-hand smoke is harmful. Yep, we've got it all figured out, alright.

Oh no! A bunch of beer drinkers are going to boycott expensive vodka. I'm sure Absolute is very concerned.

As a Texan, I can only say I'm surprised it took you so long to recognize the fuckers for who they are (the crazy anti-immigration racist dickheads, not the immigrants).

@19: If by "wanting to protect your borders" you mean "waging war against Mexico and conquering half of its territory in an attempt to expand the number of slave states," then your statement makes perfect sense.

While drinking good ol' Jeebus-approved cheap booze from the Heartland.

Surely you mean going blind from good ol' cheap booze from the Heartland.

How To Read Michelle Malkin Post.

1.) Place bottle of Absolut on table beside computer. (Any beverage of your choice that is 80 proof or more will work.)
2.) Drink 4 strong shots.
3.) Read first sentence.
4.) Drink another strong shot.
5.) Read another sentence.
6.) Repeat Step 4.
7.) Repeat Step 5.
8.) Repeat Step 6.
9.) Enjoy your nap.

All my Absolute Mandarin & tonics will be doubles from now on...

Paul, let us know what you hear from local bar management. I would be there with an entourage. I'd bet we can finish off a few liters of Absolut for the bar owner.

there is no denying that illegal immigration is a serious problem that has to stop

There isn't? Dude, it is the definition of a red herring. These anti-immigration asshole simply hate Mexicans; that's all there is to it. All the rhetoric is total bullshit. I have more respect for the KKK; at least they don't deny their racism.

If you look closely, you'll see that this really isn't some olde historical map. It has the present day Central American nations on there, like Panama & Belize, which did not exist in the 19th century.

I always find the "reconquest" line from Mexicans to be funny. They usually mean in in half-jest, probably with the knowledge that the Mexican Army has no history of success in warfare. (They mostly exist to facilitate the drug trade that fuels the economy.)

Let's remember the real reason Mexicans want to come here, and how most of us ended up here in the first place. The Old World didn't want us. Didn't like our religion, our debt, or the tribe we belonged to. The Old World pushed us out, some in chains, into the New World. I don't have any affection for Scotland or England, as they pretty much sold my ancestors off as "indentured servants" (white slaves on term contracts). Why would someone treasure a country that is run by corrupt leaders that take drug money and skim the public coffers, leaving nothing for the citizens? Why would anyone have affection for a part of the world that sold them off to brutal slave traders, just because they spoke a different dialect?

Imagine the discussion we'd be having if Absolut targeted black Americans with an ad that used a map of Africa, postulating some great empire there.

I propose for SLOG HAPPY on Thursday that Absolut should be the bargain pour - we'll drink these pathetic whiners under the table!

here's a fun one from the malkin archives:

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/11/28/ughhhhhhhh/

plenty more where that came from. it's not about national security. it's because mexicans are dirty.

The press release got it wrong. It isn't a brewing disaster, Absolut is a distilling disaster.

@19... I'm pretty sure the crazy-ass racist dickheads comment was not because these people are for protecting the borders. My "holy shit, this people are nuts" reaction, anyways, was because, holy shit, they actually think that there's a real danger of a separatist movement, or of Mexico somehow invading the US and "taking back" their land. You'd have to be a fucking moron to think that was true.

This is clearly a display of mass insanity.

Leaving aside the ass-backwards politics, it's a massive over-reaction to what is really just a silly ad which wasn't even meant for the American market. It appeals to Mexican pride, in just the same way that every dumb Miller Beer or Chevrolet ad appeals to American pride. Is it really so terrible to think that Mexicans look back at their history with nostalgia? What the hell is the problem?

Some kind of anti-foreigner sickness is infecting middle America. As silly as all this is, it is exactly the kind of mass hysteria that leads mobs of morons to do truly atrocious things like build expensive barriers that are doomed to fail and physically attack innocent people.

Something is terribly wrong here.

well, i'm not down with the boycott. but as @37 points out.. it's about pride. we laugh at the wounded american pride, but is that a defense for an ad that bolsters mexican pride? both cases are silly and unproductive to promote. i'd have the same feeling if an absolute ad displayed BC, ontario or quebec as part of the US.

it's funny; but it's also divisive.

#3, that might actually make me drink vodka.

That was @33

They pulled the ad. Who knew that most of the liquor sales were manned by and made to fiercely nationalist rednecks?

Si tenemos un plan para poner en marcha unda grade reconquista del territorio que lols EEUU nos robaron en el siglo pasado.

Si les gusta NAFTA, si va a gustarles la reconquista mucho mas!

Cado viaje empieze con un solo paso por el camino....es decir, el camino nuevo de los EEUU Mexicanos, por los EEUU al Canada...

Mexicans are cool.

I have relatives who have been Texans since before there was a US presence west of the Mississippi.

They now live in Cali, and they're more American than most people are, even if they're Hispanic.

Nothing wrong with the map - it's the truth.

@26 and @33 win.

Not that it will matter particularly, but I think I'll host an Absolut only cocktail hour this weekend.

Even though I'm an "crazy-ass racist dickhead" I think the uproar over this is hilarious. Remember Freedom Fries?

What I don't think is funny is this...

http://www.kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=8135275&nav=menu216_3

and this shit happens once a week, in between the TONS of narcotics that are siezed, ROBBED and RANSACKED homes near the border, hit and run accidents (if they stick around they get deported), and countless other issues that are directly related to illegal immigration.

Notice how I never said Mexican, Guatemalan, or Nicaraguan once?

Two Trauma Centers in Tucson closed solely because of unpaid bills of entrants and the insured could no longer support them, and because of patient privacy laws the hospital can't even call INS. They don't pay a dime, foot the bill to insured citizens, and then complain we don't teach their "legal" children in their native languages in public schools.

Too bad seeing an issue, recognizing it as an issue, and trying to correct it makes me a racist. Oh, I thought it was clever marketing and if I drank vodka, I'd still buy Absolut.

Yes Raj, it is racist to see a health care problem as an immigration problem. If we had universal health care and free immigration, all of the immigrants (and more importantly all of the uninsured) would be working openly, and paying taxes into the system. Trying to maintain an permanent underclass is both racist and fiscally stupid.

I was referring specifically to the burden put on local health care by uninsured illegal immigrants which would still be there if the rest of the country had "universal health care." Furthermore, why should it be the responsibility of our government to care for the "permanent underclass" of ANOTHER country? That logic doesn't fly in another developed nation.

On a side note I believe these universal health care packages are just a way of making people who are accept personal responsibility for their health (i.e. not smoking, being obese, and having a vague idea of nutrition) pay for those who don't. When it's the government's business how healthy we are, it won't be long until it's their business what we eat and how we live. Hitler made nutrition a national issue, and that's not a road (I hope) this nation follows.

Absolut has issued an apology for the ad. They really should have stood by their decision to run it in the first place, any possible damage to their image is already done and back-pedaling will just aleinate the folks who enjoyed it.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5je6CYV2MW9sNYNOAOhc1qskVT7pwD8VTPELO3

Absolut is the well vodka we serve at our bar/restaurant, as I would imagine a lot of places do, likewise. I guess this is a great way to upsell the Grey Goose!

#47, children of illegal immigrants that were born here aren't legal?

Oh crap, if Hitler liked nutrition then I guess I have to be against it. Just don't tell me I have to give up on invading Poland. I have the whole thing planned.

Mexico isn't entitled to that part of the land anymore than America. It all really belongs to the Apaches. You know, those brown people who aren't from a European country.

Raj @47: The reason immigrants come here is because American businesses are permitted to hire illegal immigrants and abuse them without any legal consequences. American businesses have an insatiable appetite for illegal workers, because illegal workers are cheaper than legal workers and cannot protest working conditions without fear of deportation. Blaming the poor immigrants--rather than the wealthy employers who create and sustain the problem--is what is wrongheaded and racist. Many illegal immigrants used to come and work for the season and then return home with their wages to spend the rest of the year with their families. Now that we've locked down the border, once they come, they stay, because they're afraid they won't be able to get back in. And they send for their families. When we had stronger worker protections and less restrictive borders, there were far, far fewer illegal immigrants.

The Bud Light crowd is boycotting Absolut? Who the fuck cares?

@55 You hit it on the head. The real solution is not a fence, or amnesty. It's to count the illegal immigrants as 3/5th of a person. Sound familiar?

American "captains of industry" have been using what amounts to slave labour since before the Declaration of Independence. When we finally got around to ending official slavery, it cost us most of a generation of working class males. The recently freed slaves didn't have the skill set yet (or were thought not to) to do the manufacturing jobs the "captains" needed, so they turned to another pool of cheap labour: southern & eastern europeans. Those people were exploited to such an extreme, we got the "Gilded Age" of the late 19th century, and the organized labour & socialism movements of the early 20th.

When effective labour laws made exploiting that group of people unprofitable, we had a rare distribution of wealth that was almost fair. (This is why the 1950's are considered to be a "golden" age: average citizens could afford some luxury.)

But WWII gave the "captains of industry" a new cheap labour pool. With most of the able bodied white men in olive drab clothes, corporate bosses turned to Mexico and their "braceros" to work the fields of the MidWest & West. Part of that "golden age" of the 1950's was based on goods produced below cost by non-unionized labour. Once the "captains" had managed to demonize organized labour (with the help of Hoffa & other mobsters), they could keep the profits of cheap labour and not have to pass it on to the middle class.

So here we are in the 21st century, with a distribution of wealth on par with the Gilded Age, worker protections at 19th century levels, and a new slave labour system. (Not a perfect parallel to african slavery, but close enough.) Let's call this for what it is.

And unless we (the middle classes) are willing to pay $3 for a head of lettuce, or some other necessity that is radically underpriced, we will continue to have this system.

.... of course, those same "Captains of Industry" would try to find a way to pocket the difference!

Good points kk & Sir Vic. Lest we forget all those "cost-cutting" "competitive-making" and "democracy-tasting" workers hired by U.S. businesses who have moved production out of this country recently.

Not to nitpick @54, but are you implying that Mexicans are Spaniards?

@58 - I don't think it was Montezuma who expanded Mexico's borders to include Alta California and Colorado.

below cost is kind of a misnomer when comparing the price of production for a good or service. there is no absolute cost to doing anything.

True enough Mahtli, but Mexicans (independent by the "war" of 1848) were very much a mixed-raced people. A "brown" people.

I totally agree the problem lies in employers hiring illegal entrants.

We are doing something about it since some (more liberal) states are dragging their feet on national immigration reform. I even picked a left wing source as to not offend too many more people.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-arizimmig5apr05,1,3154166.story?page=1

I don't agree that the benefits of this nation aren't applicable to anyone and everyone that comes in knowingly violating laws. Would you honestly expect to live in Italy, get free health care (while nobody else does), have children that are become citizens (they'd send you ALL back), sue for discrimination (for questioning your ability to be legally employed), and then wave the American flag while all this is happening?

It took a friend of mine (gasp, a Mexican) 6 years to go from his greencard to become a citizen. While it was a long time, he filled out the paperwork, worked, payed taxes, and wasn't convicted of a felony. Hell, he got a 100% on his citizenship test that most Americans couldn't answer half of. It's easy for people to brand those concerned about supporting an immigration reform "racists" and that's too bad because that's a lot of reason this is an unresolved problem. It turns into name calling and agenda pushing. Nobody is fully against immigration, and the vast majority of people supporting legislation that restricts employment to people that are legally here aren't racist. I hope nothing I've said here implies I think I (middle class, white, 20's, non-religious, male) am intrinsically better than everyone else.