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

“Chorizo represents growing Latino population in Wisconsin”

That’s what the headline reads and the picture really speaks for itself.

Chorizo, a spicy pork sausage, signed a contract and was presented with a jersey reading “Cerveceros” across the front during Thursday’s mock press conference, an affair stuffed with so many food references it left you with a stomach ache. But this was also serious business.

According to a recent Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel report on immigration, quoting U.S. Census Bureau figures, Wisconsin’s Hispanic population grew by 23 percent from 2000 to 2004 and accounted for 4.3% of the state’s population of around 5.5 million in 2004. The Hispanic population grew by at least 1,000 in nine state counties, including by 14,647 in Milwaukee County.

So adding Chorizo to the lineup of racially stereotyped sausage mascots was the Brewers way of showing this burgeoning population some inclusion. Other ways included translating the team’s name into Spanish (cerveceros) and emblazoning it on jerseys.

This pretty much breaks most of my rules for reaching out to Latinos in a respectful manner. The sausage is wearing a massive sombrero, has a fat moustache and is, well, a sausage. I wonder how many Venezuelans or Puerto Ricans see themselves reflected in Mr. Chorizo? Oh, I forgot, Latinos are a homogenous mass with no cultural identity to speak of between countries. Gimme a break. The only thing that is semi-comforting is that the rest of the nationalities represented in the various sausage mascots that came before Chorizo — Polish, Italian, German — are treated with equal amounts of disregard for cultural sensitivity.

Update: Apparently not everyone is happy about Chorizo…notably MLB’s marketing team. It was fun while it lasted.
Via / ABC News