Spanish airline Iberia is in hot water for an ad they used to promote a contest for a trip to Cuba on Iberia.com. The commercial (video after the jump), which depicts a white baby (yes, baby) on a trip to Cuba, where hordes of scantily clad Cuban women dance and satisfy his every need, is at the center of the controversy. Spanish consumer rights group FACUA was outraged by the ad, calling for its immediate removal because:

…it presents “denigrating stereotypes of Cuban women, showing them as mulattas in bikinis who are at the service of tourists around the clock to dance for them, give them massages, fan them and give them food and drink”

According to Spain’s 20 Minutos, the ad was created for a promotion celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Iberia.com. And it gets worse:

The next sequence shows the baby surrounded by mulattas aboard a convertible, drinking and getting massages while, to a Caribbean rhythm, he narrates his journey after having won the contest. His chorus of companians sing “está chupao, está chupao”.Shortly after, the baby asks the Cuban women to taken him to his crib: “venga mamitas, llévenme a la cuna”; while receiving a massage he exclaims “go to iberia.com and come here with me, ’cause it’s wonderful to do nothing lying in hammmocks without spending money.”

I’ve poked around but I haven’t been able to find out what genius ad agency came up with this concept. But as with all cases of terribly offensive marketing, you can only blame the agency so much. Iberia signed off on this. I can just imagine a board room of stuffed shirts clapping their hands to the reggaeton beat, seeing themselves reflected in the character of the baby, and remembering their last trip to La Habana. Bleck.Due to the uproar (and FACUA citing that given the fact that the spot promotes women as objects, it’s actually illegal to run it in Spain) the little masterpiece has been pulled. And what does Iberia have to say? A spokesperson said “It was totally trivial.”

What do you think about the ad? Does it help promote sex tourism to Cuba or is it harmless?

Via / 20 Minutos

AdTech Miami launches this year and its focus will be the Latino market, with some really interesting people speaking. The details:

ad:tech expositions, LLC ( www.ad-tech.com) today announced its inaugural show in Miami. Themed “Speaking the Right Language: Engaging with Hispanic and Latin Audiences,” taking place June 26 and 27 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

ad:tech Miami will examine and discuss how to best engage one of the industry’s fastest growing demographic – US Hispanic and Latin Americans. Modern marketers are faced with not only finding the best method to reach these audiences, but sending the right message, to the right people. ad:tech Miami educates attendees with focused sessions that speak specifically to these varying cultural facets. Content is dedicated to three tracks (Latin America, Hispanic and Universal Marketing) and will be presented in English and simultaneously translated into Spanish and Portuguese.

There are a growing number of interactive marketing agencies in the Hispanic and Latin America markets. As online marketing continues to grow, its influence over major purchase decisions made by Hispanics and Latin Americans has experienced a dramatic increase. According to the AOL/Roper US Hispanic Cyberstudy, more than 63 percent of online Hispanics consider the Internet to be the best information source for making final brand decisions, which ultimately unlocks new ways for marketers to reach this audience segment.

“ad:tech Miami follows a series of successful US and international events that we have programmed for this year,” said Don Knox , VP, ad:tech expositions. “This industry is powerful and continues to grow exponentially.”

Anchored by an opening day keynote from Fernando Madeira, CEO of Terra Latin America, ad:tech Miami will feature more than 120 speakers from the United States, Brazil and Latin America. This includes CEOs and marketing executives from major brands and leading media companies such as MTV Networks, Batanga, PodZinger, General Motors, General Mills, MSN Prodigy, Yell Argentina/Telefonica, Captura Group, Yahoo!, Directa Network, Telemundo, Latin3, MSN, Google, Grupo Televisa and many others.

Visit AdTech Miami’s site for further info.