proof that vodka doesn't help

The Absolut vodka company apologized Saturday for an ad campaign depicting the southwestern U.S. as part of Mexico amid angry calls for a boycott by U.S. consumers.

But we kinda stole the land from the Mexicans...

The campaign, which promotes ideal scenarios under the slogan "In an Absolut World," showed a 1830s-era map when Mexico included California, Texas and other southwestern states. Mexico still resents losing that territory in the 1848 Mexican-American War and the fight for Texas independence.

Of course they resent losing it!

It was basically stolen!

And what was the point of the out-dated map?

But the ads, which ran only in Mexico and have since ended, were less than ideal for Americans undergoing a border buildup and embroiled in an emotional debate over illegal immigration from their southern neighbor.

Well it probably pissed off the people in Mexico.

If they even really cared.

More than a dozen calls to boycott Absolut were posted on michellemalkin.com, a Web site operated by conservative columnist Michelle Malkin. The ads sparked heated comment on a half-dozen other Internet sites and blogs.

Hey!

I am one of those sites!
I feel so loved! Thank you people that i don't know! Thank you!

"In no way was it meant to offend or disparage, nor does it advocate an altering of borders, nor does it lend support to any anti-American sentiment, nor does it reflect immigration issues," Absolut said in a statement left on its consumer inquiry phone line.

Well, it doesn't take much to piss of a nation.

So you have to keep everything perfectly neutral.

Otherwise, you get crazy stuff like this happening and im sure that the company doesn't like it.

Some fringe U.S. groups also claim the land is rightfully part of Mexico, while extreme immigration foes argue parts of the U.S. already are being overtaken by Mexico.

Hey!

I think the land rightfully belongs to Mexico!

I keep feeling more and more loved by these people i don't know!

"In an Absolut world, a company that produces vodka fires its entire marketing department in a desperate attempt to win back enraged North American customers after a disastrous ad campaign backfires," a person using the moniker "SalsaNChips" wrote on Malkin's Web site.

Yeah, if you have all of America hating you, then business will go down.

Becaue america likes drugs, alcohol, and beer.

And most americans wouldn't be smart enough to know that beer is alcohol!

A plan for comprehensive immigration reform designed to deal with an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States - the vast majority from Mexico - collapsed last summer under the emotional weight of the debate.

Why the immigration!
It is such a delicate topic.

One that i will gladly rant about later.

Keep coming back to find that one.

I can guarantee that it will be a long one!

Absolut said the ad was designed for a Mexican audience and intended to recall "a time which the population of Mexico might feel was more ideal."

Well, they definitely got attention.

And i am sure that mexicans were more enraged than enlightened.

"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, and for that we apologize."

That is why you stay neutral!

Yay!

Vin & Sprit, Absolut's Sweden-based parent company, will be acquired by French spirit maker Pernod Ricard SA under a deal reached last week.

Yeah, well good things don't come to everyone.

Too bad.