Reactionary, nationalistic Americans to do the patriotic thing and buy Russian or French vodka

A mini-controversy has erupted. Apparently, Swedish-made Absolut Vodka ran an advertisement in Mexico that appealed to Mexican nationalistic pride at the expense of Americans. The ad shows a map of Mexico with its pre-Mexican-American War boundaries that included a sizable majority of the current western United States.

Patriotic Americans are outraged at this serious threat to the territorial integrity of the United States. The very audacity of a foreign company appealing to the patriotism of its customers! It's not like Toyota advertises their trucks with American patriotism or any American company would appeal to the locals outside of the U.S. borders. At least one upset citizen has vowed never to purchase Absolut Vodka again, but instead Stoli or Grey Goose vodka.

It seems there is a sector of the population who is really up in arms on any perceived threat to the United States. These are most likely the same folks who think immigration is ruining the country. Some of the nuttier ones are worried about a "New World Order" or "North American Union" conspiracy.

Since any supporting evidence is used to further these conspiracy theories, even satire, here' s my contribution to rile the feathers of the reactionary conspiracy theorists. North America, perhaps less than fifty years from now? For added insult to injury, the capital of the new union is Detroit. Cuba gets southern Florida!

More on Figlio advertisement

I first wrote about the Figlio restaurant billboard a few weeks ago. I thought it was mildly offensive, but mostly I'm perplexed why this is a clever advertising scheme.

The Deets also did a bit on the issue and linked to my post. One of the ensuing discussions was whether the picture is supposed to be a "regular" aging hooker or a transvestite aging hooker. The question hadn't occurred to me when I first saw it. I guess looking at it now, I would hazard to guess it is a trannie, but I don't see how that really matters.

The billboard is reportedly in several places around Minneapolis. The below picture is on 7th Street, near the intersection with 5th Avenue, in downtown Minneapolis.

Thoughts?

Who can best wake up at 3 AM?

Everyone has probably heard about the latest Clinton-Obama ad war. Here is Clinton's original "3 AM" commercial followed by Obama's response. I think that the Obama campaign effectively pulled out the rug from under the Clinton folks.

The third ad is another humorous take.





Showing us how silly this all is...

Working the corner

So, recently Target got a little bit of attention with billboards with suspicious placement of its trademark target image.

Right now in Minneapolis I had the pleasure of seeing a billboard for pseudo-Italian restaurant, Figlio. Figlio is located in Uptown at Lake Street and Hennepin in the Calhoun Square "mall." It's one of those places that I thought was a cool destination when I was in college and wanted to have a night out in the city. Mix Figlio with a movie at Lagoon, and you're set. Now, older and wiser, I don't go there. It's not that they are bad. It's just that there are many better options.

Anywho. Figlio has a billboard in downtown Minneapolis, and presumably elsewhere in the Twin Citites, with the tagline that they've been "working the corner" for a couple decades. It features the picture of what one concludes is an elderly prostitute. My better half theorizes they are using Chino Latino's ad consultants. I later discover that this is probably true, as Figlio and Chino Latino are owned by the same company, which incidentally, also includes Manny's Steakhouse, Good Earth, and Muffuletta.

The billboard tells us that Figlio is a hip place, I guess, for only hip people. If you don't like the billboard, then you aren't part of their exclusive clientèle. I don't see how aging hookers are supposed to get you in the mood for mediocre pasta in a noisy restaurant, but I guess I'm missing the point.

Offensive Target Ad

An ad from Target Stores has appeared in NYC's Times Square, outside their Minneapolis headquarters, among other places. It features a woman allegedly doing a "snow angel" with an odd placement of their trademark target.

• See the picture and further information on the controversy here.

Target claims they've received less than a dozen complaints. Judging by the attention in the last day, I'd guess that will go up. You can be the judge. I personally can't believe the "subliminal" image is anything but intentional. In any case, it's distasteful. Tell me what you think.