Absolut Bias: Leftists Fail to Keep Ad Controversy Out Of Wikipedia

NewsBusters.org ^ | Matthew Sheffield

[RatherBiased.com]

It’s still that way.

[pabianice]

[laotzu]

[Tanniker Smith]

Well, I'm glad Ireland is still Ireland in that map.

I'm sure the Irish will welcome the Muslims as well as they welcomed the British.

[Gondring]

This ad is as offensive to me as, say, an “Absolut South” ad showing slaves picking cotton or an “Absolut Reich” ad showing Germany’s conquests in WWII.

Big BUMP!

See also here

[fzx12345]

[Liz]

FUTURE BRANDS BOARD ANNOUNCES EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT CHANGES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 11, 2008

CONTACT:
Sarah Devaney
Beam Global Spirits & Wine
847-444-7661
Sarah.Devaney@beamglobal.com

Jeffrey Moran
The Absolut Spirits Co., Inc.
212-641-8720
Jeffrey.moran@absolut.com

Kelley McCormick
Qorvis Communications
202-683-3125
kmccormick@qorvis.com

FUTURE BRANDS BOARD ANNOUNCES EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT CHANGES
Future Brands Chairman of the Board Kevin Fennessey and Beam Global’s Bill Newlands Assume Greater Role in Management of the Company as Steve Bellini Plans to Step Down; Board Appoints CFO

Deerfield, Ill., – January 11, 2008 – Future Brands LLC, the U.S. sales and distribution services company for Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc. and the Absolut Spirits Company, Inc. (ASCI), announces upcoming changes to the Future Brands management team.

Future Brands president and CEO Steve Bellini will be leaving the company to pursue personal interests. Steve has agreed with the Future Brands Board to accept a transition role working with Kevin Fennessey until February 29th. The Board also announces the appointment of Robert Hill to the position of chief financial officer, replacing Barry O’Neil who left for a new opportunity.

Kevin Fennessey, chairman of the Future Brands Board, will take on a greater role in the management of the company working jointly with Bill Newlands, senior vice president of U.S. Commercial Development for Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc. to oversee day-to-day operations. Fennessey will be fully supported by the Future Brands leadership team including CFO Robert Hill and by members of the Future Brands board. The company will be taking steps during this period to prepare for a CEO search.

“We want to thank Steve for his contributions to Future Brands over the past three years and we wish him all the best,” stated Kevin Fennessey, Chairman of the Future Brands Board. “We also want to welcome our new chief financial officer, Robert Hill. With several world-class brands in our stable such as Absolut® Vodka, Jim Beam® bourbon, Cruzan® Rum and Sauza® tequila, Future Brands is proud to drive the second highest spirits volume in the United States,” continued Fennessey. “These management changes invite new, exciting opportunities for the company’s future and mark another step in the evolution and elevation of Future Brands.”

Kevin Fennessey has 20-plus years experience in the spirits industry, having previously held executive positions at Pernod Ricard and Joseph E. Seagram & Sons. He has been president and CEO of ASCI since August 1, 2006. Fennessey was appointed Chairman of the Future Brands board in October 2007.

Bill Newlands, former president of Beam Wine Estates was also president and CEO of Allied Domecq Wines, North America. He has also served as president and CEO of Wine.com; president and CEO of the North American Still and Sparkling Wine Group of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy’s; and vice president of marketing at Ernest & Julio Gallo. Robert Hill is a seasoned finance executive with significant senior leadership experience in both retail and food product environments. He is a hands-on and detail-oriented leader with experience at growth companies from several hundred million to over one billion dollars in annual sales.

Steve Bellini is a beverage alcohol industry veteran who began his career in 1972 as a sales representative for the General Wine and Spirits ... Company, a unit of the Joseph E. Seagram Corporation. At Joseph E. Seagram Corporation, he served as vice president of national development; led their control state business - and ultimately rose to the role of president, North America. Steve was appointed president and CEO of Future Brands in 2004.

###

About Future Brands LLC

Future Brands LLC is a sales and distribution services joint-venture established in 2001 that represents all U.S. spirits sales in the Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc. and The Absolut Spirits Company, Inc. portfolios, making it the number two spirits supplier in the U.S.

---

About The Absolut Spirits Company, Inc.

The Absolut Spirits Company, Inc., headquartered in New York, is a subsidiary of V&S Group and operates under the auspices of V&S Absolut Spirits in Stockholm, which produces and markets ABSOLUT® VODKA, ABSOLUT CUT™, Level ™ Vodka, FRIS® Vodka, Plymouth™ Gin and Cruzan® Rum.

The Absolut Spirits Company, Inc. imports ABSOLUT VODKA, Level Vodka, Plymouth Gin and Cruzan Rum in the US and distributes the brands through Future Brands LLC, a joint venture with Beam Global Spirits & Wine.

About Beam Global Spirits & Wine

Inspiring conversations around the world, Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc., is building brands people want to talk about. Consumers from all corners of the globe call for our brands, including Jim Beam® Bourbon, Sauza® Tequila, Canadian Club® Whisky, Courvoisier® Cognac, Maker’s Mark® Bourbon, Laphroaig® Scotch Whisky, Larios® Gin, Whisky DYC®, Teacher’s® Scotch Whisky, DeKuyper® Cordials and Liqueurs, Knob Creek® Bourbon and Starbucks™ Liqueurs. Beam Global Spirits & Wine is part of Fortune Brands, Inc. (NYSE:FO), a leading consumer brands company with annual sales exceeding $8 billion.

For more information on Beam Global Spirits & Wine, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility, please visit www.beamglobal.com and www.drinksmart.com.

[Liz]

DO THIS NOW Every military installation, VFW and American Legion should be notified of Absolut's anti-American stance.

Wherever Absolut rears its ugly head, Americans should speak up. In restaurants, bars, liquor stores....wherever. Someone mentioned Absolut ads in ballparks---Americans should demand Absolut ads be pulled.

Absolut gained notoriety through the years by its stylized print ads designed by artists---they later published a book of the ads. Check to see if your local bookstore carries the Absolut ad book---and tell them you will no longer patronize the store while the book is on its shelves.

[hsalaw]

Wikipedia is not a reliable source, and I am leery of any use of it.

[piytar]

Image of the add still not up there. Wiki is OK for pure science information and the like, but utterly useless for political/cultural/historical info. given their hard left bias as exemplified by those morons (editors?) orangemike and rabbit.

[RatherBiased.com]

You may be right but guess what? Most people think they’re reliable. The right is being very myopic wrt Wikipedia.

[mvpel]

The funny thing about this whole Reconquista movement is that if Mexico had in fact retained or reconquered the southwest, it would just mean that people would be swimming across the Red River instead of the Rio Grande, and racking up $200 million a year in unpaid medical bills birthing anchor babies in Marietta, Oklahoma instead of El Paso, Texas, and Silicon Valley would be in Colorado instead of California.

[april15Bendovr]

I don’t know why Daily Kos was monitoring what we think about this ad.

I think they’re just jealous the map wasn’t the Soviet Union taking over the USA

Freepology Today: Absolut Meltdown

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/3/204524/6536/395/489809

[Doctor Raoul]

Liberals are fascists because fascist is as fascist does.

And stiffling any but their own single, approved point of view is one of the hallmarks of fascism.

[GVnana]

Oh damn. There goes my Kahlua.

[Sensei Ern]

[Enchante]

DailyKosFreak pests should be deported to Mexico, Cuba, Zimbabwe, and other socialist utopias..... rather than allowing them to destroy this country, let them enjoy the ‘fruits’ of their depravity in places that are already much more amenable to their ideas.

[goldstategop]

Wikipedia is pure fiction. Its controlled by leftist bloggers. Its not exactly a source of objective information. As an online encyclopedia, it falls well short of accepted scholarly standards.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[goldstategop]

I think it is. What's needed is to turn Wikipedia into a true encyclopedia. That means giving an objective treatment of the facts and leaving partisan disagreement to other forums. If you want a particular view, you should be free to browse a site that shares your view. Wikipedia as an information resource is too important to be abandoned to the Left.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Petronski]

Wikipedia is valuable for a lot of things, like if you want to know where Moldavia is, or the backstory on “the Fate motif” in Beethoven’s Fifth, or the atomic weight of Argon.

But I wouldn’t trust it for anything political, social, racial, or even recent-historical.