Posted on 04/13/2008 5:53:29 AM PDT by WesternCulture
I'm Absolut Swedish but NEVER EVER again will I buy Absolut Vodka and I will, at least, TRY to avoid other products of V&S Group (their repertoire is a pretty broad one though and I kinda party from time to time..), a former Swedish company which recently was sold to French Pernod Ricard (for the sum of 5,626 billion).
I've also managed to convince my father and some of my friends to join my initiative and I'll continue to campaign!
The background is, of course, the already infamous Absolut Vodka ad with the words "In an Absolut World" slapped over a pre-1848 map showing California, Arizona and other states as Mexican territory.
What kind of severely disturbed individual came up with the idea for this ad and how come his/hers superiors approved of it?
Furthermore, is there any specific reason why such an ad appears shortly after V&S Group was acquired by a FRENCH company? I was rather under the impression France and the US presently were trying to restore their deep rooted although slightly damaged friendship. But perhaps all French aren't as insightful and intelligent as Sarkozy? (In any case, I've understood people like Chirac aren't).
Whether one wishes to view the ad in question as a Swedish or French insult against USA, I sincerely hope Americans in general are aware there are not only millions of Europeans, but HUNDRED OF MILLIONS of Europeans who do NOT hate America and do NOT wish to insult our brothers and sisters across the Atlantic - our own blood.
Europe might be more PC, more Liberal and more Socialist than the US, but this doesn't mean the average European feel sympathy with our young, spoiled, middle class "activists" who burn the flag of the United States of America and fail to understand the actual effects of their own actions.
In one way, I'm not embarrassed as a European by such inhabitants of our glorious continent, because these people, in fact, have very little to do with what Europe and Western Civilization is all about.
My country has no reason to promote stupidity. If Sweden would have done so throughout history, Sweden would not only be like any other country here on earth where basic features of civilization like showers, radiators and nuclear plants don't function, houses seem to be built by apes and people drive around in ridiculous cars instead of vehicles like Volvos, SAABs, BMWs, Audis and MBs, we would probably have been some backward part of Russia by today.
I chose to boycott Absolut Vodka out of two major reasons:
The ad in questions is an insult to USA, a country which, forever, will be one of Sweden's closest allies in the struggle for a free world.
The Absolut ad is an insult to Sweden and everything that is good about Viking culture as well as Europe at large.
Absolut boycott - on both sides of the Atlantic!
New ad for the German Market
In ein Absolut Welt
“While some elements of the stereotype may have arisen out of the Swede’s limited facility at communication in English, the prevalence of this literary character would lead me to contest your assertion.”
- Haha.
Vi har ju Nobelpriset, vår export-industri + vår levnads-standard som argument.
Vikingarnas imperium var ett resultat av intelligens.
Get it?
Actually, in that map Sweden is colored (depicted) as a “neutral” country like Ireland and Spain.
I was reading your argument "stupidity is unscandinavian" as stating that there is no scandinavian stupidity. You appear to view my argument as "there is only stupidity in scandinavia." I would never suggest that.
Sweden, like Switzerland, assumed a stance of armed neutrality. Norway and Denmark had been occupied by the Germans, Iceland by the Americans and Finland was engaged in the War against Russia. I say, good for Sweden and Switzerland.
In the perverse Nazi racial ideology, Scandinavians were seen as the purest of Aryans, trumping even the Germans themselves, secure in their northern racial redoubt.
In Hitler's vision, once the War in Europe had been settled on terms favorable to the Nazis, Sweden and the Netherlands along with Denmark, Norway and ultimately Switzerland would be conscripted into Grosser Deutschland.
Some Piratpartiet organizers in action outside their official capacity in the Pirate Party also have been working on a a side project campaign to slap Absolut around with a boycott, not sure they’ll put their neck on the line for something like this though.
- Not so sure.
When Swedes invade, German cities tend to fall like pieces of Dominoes.
Please study European 17th century history and also the military-industrial capacity of Sweden during the end of WW2 compared to that of Nazi Germany.
“Bet, Kindlein, bet! Morgen kommt der Schwed” (Pray little child, pray, tomorrow the Swede will come here).
Sweden is a close friend of Germany and we wish ordinary Germans all the best, but in spite of this it was probably a mistake not to liberate Norway and Denmark together with our Nordic brothers when the allied forces already had broken the backbone of the Nazi war machine.
A major reason why we didn't make use of our strength was the situation in Finland. Soviet kept attacking our eastern Nordic neighbor even after the Soviet triumph over the Germans on home soil.
I don't. I call it "Permanent Boycott", which means I only remember that they transgressed. It's really hard to get on the list but once you're on... that's it.
My list is short:
- General Mills (something leftwing in the late 90s)
- Sony (rootkits -- passed them up on my last camera purchase)
- Absolut
hope that the boycott of this company’s swill...causes the company to go under.....it would be absolutely perfect irony!!!
I am aware of the history of the Thirty Years War. Germany in 1618 was a divided group of competing fiefdoms, some of whom sided with the Protestants and Gustavus Adolfus and some of whom sided with the Catholics and Autria. Nazi Germany consolidated almost all Germans, including Austria and had well over two hundred divisions.
Germany swept into Norway and Denmark because of their strategic coastlines. Sweden was temporially spared for the same reasons that Switzerland was, they could be dealt with once the War was settled and presented too much a military challenge for such a little immediate stategic value to be worth taking on while Germany was still engaged with Russia and England.
“Schveden vas schippin as much iron ore to Shermany as ze Shermans could pay for.”
- Do your homework.
What country supplied Luftwaffe with tons of fuel prior to the outbreak of WW2?
Many Swedish companies didn’t shun lucrative business opportunities closely connected to the rise and of Nazi Germany, no, - and neither did British, French and American ones.
WW2 is a tragedy all of the West bears responsiblity of.
We all gave in to evil.
Where were the Americans and Britons when Germany invaded Norway and Denmark or when Soviet attacked Finland??
My father’s uncle was shot in Finland during WW2 by Soviet forces (he survived though). I speak for him here.
Actually, Coke came out smelling like a rose on the back end of that one. This is much, much worse.
“I am aware of the history of the Thirty Years War. Germany in 1618 was a divided group of competing fiefdoms”
- This is exactly why they were so easy to defeat.
Continental chaos. Business as usual.
Then these geniuses invaded Soviet in the 1940s - on horseback.
I certainly don’t hate Germany, quite contrary I admire our big brother south of the border, BUT as a citizen of the EU I’m trifle annoyed that the “leading” member countries of our union never seem to learn how to achieve true success as modern, industrialized countries nowadays.
The way forward is not strikes and the 6 hour work day.
I’m sorry if I give the wrong impression. I admire the stance of both the Swedish and Swiss governments during the War. They both performed admirably their responsibility of protecting their own citizen.
Switerland took in 200,000 Jews from Nazi Europe, more per capita than any other nation. Sweden was a haven and conduit for the Jews who could make it there and no one can forget the contributions and sacrifice of Raoul Wallenberg, who in my opinion, probably accurately reflected the sentiments of the majority of his countrymen.
No country’s policies during the War, or before or since, are unblemished, there is fault to found in all. Certainly, on the whole, Sweden’s contributions to civilization are distinctly positive.
However, the Germans did not "ride in on horseback", but rather, marched in front of horse drawn wagons, which were probably better suited for the primitive conditions of Russian roads and infrastructure than the U.S. Army's deuce and a half. (Eisenhower said that the two and half ton truck was the most decisive advantage the Allies held in the west.)
- I wasn't offended or anything. I apologize if I sounded somewhat harsh in my reply.
“No countrys policies during the War, or before or since, are unblemished, there is fault to found in all. Certainly, on the whole, Swedens contributions to civilization are distinctly positive.”
- Very true. Personally, I feel we Westerners must confront what actually happened during these dark years.
If we ever are to restore the true spirit of the West, we must dare to have a closer look at ALL of the quite unnecessary harm we have caused ourselves recently - and continue causing ourselves.
The reason I, personally, am so much engaged in the tragic past of Europe is that I see it as a mission in life and as my duty as a European to make way for the OPPOSITE of the horrors my fellow Europeans had to endure some decades ago.
Europe, the largest economy on earth, IS able of achieving something no other part of the world can accomplish:
A new Renaissance.
Thoughts sounding somewhat too grand in design perhaps, but to the extent that Europeans in general agree with me, we are a continent of over 500 million on the march.
If we succeed in restoring Western Civilization in close cooperation with the Americans, the world will never again be same.
It will become better.
bttt
Absolut boycott - on both sides of the Atlantic!
Could you post a list of V&S products?
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