Does anyone remember that Absolut Vodka advertising campaign a few months back — the one that spurred on the blogosphere with countless posts and commentaries from American conservatives like Michelle Malkin to non-profit environmental blogs like Goat?

Or, what about this week’s unbelievably(!) offensive example: Spain’s Olympic Basketball team posing in an advertisement for a courier company (the official sponsor of the Spanish Basketball Federation) complete with all of them making slit-eye gestures. Yes, really.  The dirty details are here.

For the record, I am not of Spanish descent — yet, I am offended.  I am not of Asian descent — yet, I am offended.  (And, yes, I’m squirming at the thought of displaying that photo in this post, perpetuating its online existence…).

Seeing that photo today brought “it” all back.

…

…here goes.

I’m not a designer by education or profession, but I’m a huge fan of Applied Arts magazine. A few months back, I saw on their web site that they were promoting their call for entries for their 2008 Design & Advertising Awards. On one particular web page there was an image of their previous (2006) awards issue; needless to say, it sparked a colourful email exchange with a colleague of mine. In a nutshell:

Me: OMG… you’ve probably seen “Applied Arts Magazine” … check out the image on one of their web pages below promoting their 2008 annual awards… (It was a 2006 cover … not sure which month … probably november or december)

Joe: … UN FREAKING BELIEVABLE!!!!!! At least now we can write these people and ask them what they think of the culturally sensitive issue in ads… We could actually send them a copy of the letter from SIRCORP … hmmmm …

Then, Joe was immediately at my office door, clearly pumped, but exasperated … exasperated at the thought of one more discussion on the need for cultural sensitivity in advertising … but, still pumped at the thought of another opportunity to contribute to the conversation (as a Director of DMS who can blame him).

We remembered the negative reaction to the Jack Astor’s “Viva Italia Festival” campaign from many in the Toronto Italian community; we had the letters from readers (including Italy’s Ambassador to Canada) and the media coverage to prove it. In fact, SIR Corp reached out and called us directly for assistance and as a result, our sister subsidiary’s daily Italian newspaper, Corriere Canadese/Tandem, was the conduit for their apology to the Canadian Italian community.

So, even with all that, the campaign in question eventually won an Applied Arts 2006 Design & Advertising award … (sigh) …

“Sure,” some may argue, “but, it was just a joke, lighthearted … and besides, maybe the campaign in question wasn’t meant for the Italian community.” Doesn’t matter. At the very least, with niche markets and the viral nature of ‘word of mouth mouse’, would a client want to go into a campaign knowing that they might eventually need to publicly apologize for it?

This isn’t meant as a swipe against the magazine, nor against SIR Corp’s agency … although I’m not sure the agency heard about their client’s eventual public apology. About 6 months later, Applied Arts put out their 2006 Design & Advertising Awards Annual and there on page 89 displaying the campaign’s creative, the last couple of lines of the agency-supplied cutline says:

“…The Viva Italia Festival was [Jack Astor's] celebration of Italian food and culture. When you think about it, these ads were our only possible solution.“

Uh … really? Their only possible solution? I’m by no means suggesting that the creative process be held hostage, but c’mon. Italian culture is only synonymous with food and organized crime/premeditated murder!? No pun intended, but talk about salt in the wound.

Earlier this year, I read an article over at AdAge about an OMD Worldwide study that “found that ethnic groups are turned off by ads that rely on stereotypes and caricatures rather than meaningful cultural cues.” Well, ya.

Even if an agency (or a client, for that matter) believes they need to deliberately test the limits of “freedom of expression” or opinion and/or take the easy way out just to grab the public’s attention, then, that’s their choice … but at the very least, stand up and say so .. don’t hide behind what you believed to be the “only possible solution”; otherwise, you’re only diminishing your creative ability and potential (unlike these folks).

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words… imagine the outcry if, instead, the Jack Astor’s campaign was promoting a Middle Eastern-themed menu … what if the ad consisted of …

• 2 Muslim men in turbans; and
• a burqa-covered woman on the ground having just been stoned by a falafel thrown by the 2 men?

What makes the original Italian-inspired concept more acceptable?  Yes, I know, the Viva Italia Festival campaign was in 2006.

But what’s the date today? Given the UNBELIEVABLY STUPID AND OFFENSIVE Spain Basketball Team promo above, are things getting worse?

What do you think?

PS: Note to Spanish Olympic Committee: I wouldn’t put much hope in securing your bid to have Madrid host the Olympics in 2016 or 2020.