Thread: I JUST GOT THIS EMAIL FROM PERNOD RICARD - ABSOLUT

That was really nice Melissa!! Kudos to you!

My letter to them....


To whom it may concern,

I am not an investor in your company nor am I a patron of Absolut products. However, I absolutely admire what your company has done with itself and as a capitolist and investor residing in the United States I can find great appreciation with what you have accomplished.

I am a huge Jameson fan and find this beverage to be on your product line. I am only one customer, but I must tell you that if your company closes the deal with Absolut that I will not drink your products again. I am very very disheartened by the Aztlan map used in an advertisement to sell Absolut to Mexcan residents. That was not a map of the era in the early 1800's. The countries listed on it do not coincide with that time in history.

No matter what excuse Absolut uses, their blatant attempt to pander to the Reconquistas was a political statement.

Sincerely,

A Jamesons Fan!!

Nice respectful letter.

Thank you for your email.

We appreciate that you contact us to share your opinion. At ABSOLUT we are used to active reactions to our advertising, and we want our consumers to share their opinion - positive or negative. We have a policy to always reply to all emails individually, but due to the large amount of emails concerning the In an ABSOLUT World Mexico ad, we are unfortunately not able to answer all emails individually at this moment.


We acknowledge the reactions and debate and want to apologize for the concerns this ad caused. We are truly sorry and understand that the ad has offended many persons. This was not our intention.


The ad has been withdrawn as of Friday April 4th and will not be used in the future.


In no way was the ad meant to offend or disparage, or advocate an al! tering of borders, lend support to any anti-American sentiment, or to reflect immigration issues.


To ensure that we avoid future similar mistakes, we are adjusting our internal advertising approval process for ads that are developed in local markets.


Again, we are very sorry that we cannot reply to your email, if you want to continue the discussion and share your opinion with us and others, please go to our blog www.absolut.com/iaaw/blog


Our sincere apologies,


Paula Eriksson

VP, Corporate Communication



On behalf of;

V & S Absolut Spirits

Well V & S is behind the 8 ball right now. I got this from Pernod Ricard this morning:

Dear xxxxxxx,
This new message is the official message of Pernod Ricard I should have sent to your email :

We have received several messages from American consumers regarding an Absolut advertisement published in Mexico showing a map with altered American and Mexican borders.

Pernod Ricard is not yet the owner of Absolut and has no involvement in the management of the brand. The acquisition is expected to close during the summer 2008.

Nevertheless, we understand that this advertisement has caused offence and we have passed your comments on to V&S, the Swedish owner of Absolut. They have informed us that the advertisement in question was withdrawn on 4th April and will not be used again.

Please rest assured that your comments are valuable to us and we have taken them on board. Pernod Ricard has a strict internal code of ethics which all our advertisements are checked against.

As soon as Pernod Ricard becomes responsible for Absolut we will integrate its advertising into our approval system to ensure that such matters are arrested prior to causing any offence.

Kind regards


And this was my reply:




Thank you for your timely reply. I feel reassured that Pernod Ricard holds to a higher standard of advertising than V&S.

I will say however, that an official boycott of V & S products was launched yesterday in the US and until Pernod Ricard takes the business over, I will participate in the boycott and ask others to do so. Unfortunately for Pernod Ricard you have been caught in a very untenable position right now. Thank you for contacting Absolut and telling them of your concern.