1:00 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · business|Controversia|Marketing|mexico|Politics|society|Spain|World · 3 Comments
14 Apr 2009
Burger King has pissed off Mexico’s Ambassador to Spain because of a new ad campaign running in that country for a product called the “Texican Whopper”. Ambassador Jorge Zermeno wrote to Burger King in Spain to denounce what he called “denigration” of the Mexican flag.
“This advertisement denigrates the image of our country and uses improperly Mexico’s national flag,” Jorge Zermeno wrote in a letter to Burger King in Spain, the Reforma newspaper reported on Monday.The ambassador contacted the local offices of Burger King after he saw the posters in Spain, Reforma said. The burger is only available in Europe, according to the paper.
Mexico has strict laws prohibiting the defamation of the flag, Zermeno said. He asked Burger King to cancel the ad campaign that “offends Mexicans and Mexico.”
You might remember from numerous posts on VL over the past few years that Mexico doesn’t like people doing weird things with their flag, and this offense can be punishable with harsh fines and even jail time.
Reuters reports that Zermeno’s complaint was related to posters (image above) for the campaign found around Madrid, but I wonder if he’s seen the TV version (video after the jump) – which from the looks of it was created for the U.S. or Canadian market — as it’s much worse.
Imagine an episode of a Mexican game show where one game invited participants to throw slime filled balloons at a United States flag. Just imagine the outrage, the protests. Well Austraila’s Big Brother contestants threw goo-filled balloons at the Mexican flag as part of their Friday night games.
The incident occurred during the show’s “Mexican Night” challenge with contestants dressed in mariachi outfits playing musical chairs and serving Chili con Carne to win points.
Sounds like one of those racist campus parties, no? Mind you, the flag used displayed the Mexican national symbol – “an eagle devouring a snake on top of a cactus – in the middle but had the green, white and red colors in the wrong order,” according to ABC.AU. Mexican officials were not amused and demanded an apology.
Via / Monsters and Critics
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
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