Tag: Mexico

Polo Ralph Lauren Might be Overlooking Huge Branding Opportunity in Mexico

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I don’t know you, but if I were the marketing fellows at Polo Ralph Lauren I would be jumping on a major branding opportunity going on right now South of the Rio Grande: For some strange reason, it looks like every crook, rapist, kidnapper, drug dealer we succeed in catching, show up wearing the exact same type of Polo Ralph Lauren shirt, looking as proud as I would be wearing a pair of Prada shoes.

Will Polo Ralph Lauren wake up and smell the café? If not, can the rest of us try to persuade these fellows to switch brands so at least some of us can make a little out of the whole thing? Por favor?!

Hat tip: Hazme el chingado favor

Salma Wants You to Help Mexico, Because She Is Too Busy Living Between Paris and Beverly Hills

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Mrs. Hayek-Pinault set some time aside in her busy agenda to star in this spot (filmed in Los Angeles) advising her paisanos to stop complaining and help Mexico become, like, a better place.

“Don’t ask what Mexico can do for us but what we can do for Mexico,” says Salmita in her cute accent. Though I really think she meant to say “what YOU can do for Mexico,” because last time I checked she was quite busy commuting between two homes, one in Paris and the other one in Beverly Hills.

Gracias, Salmita, we’ll do -and keep you posted!

Spot: Iniciativa México

One More Reason to Root for Mexico in South Africa

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Ok, people, if you needed one more reason to root for El Tri at this year’s 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, consider this:

Diego Maradona has promised to run naked through the center of Buenos Aires if Argentina wins the World Cup.

So please, repeat after me: ¡Que gane México! ¡Que gane México!…

In which case, this blogger promises to start eating more sandwiches and spare you the embarrassment of seeing the results.

Come Retire in Mexico! No Spanish Required

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Despite all the bad news you’ve been reading lately about Mexico, there are places that just continue to attract large groups of Americans. And no, we’re not talking spring-breakers in Cancún.

According to Veteran’s Today (this blogger’s daily source of fresh news), Lake Chapala has become the number one retirement destination for U.S. veterans, partly because of its near perfect weather and low cost of living, but mostly -I suspect- because as the article states, “You can get by without Spanish.”

Which is, like, great, because if you didn’t need to learn any other language throughout your live, why start now?

Other advantages cited include -but are not limited to- “high quality health care, and pharmacies, with many bilingual professionals trained in the U.S. or Canada.”

[If none of this sounds attractive enough, think about it this way: wouldn’t you just love to hang out with your retired buddies while some local woman dances and prances around in a colorful dress and wearing a gigantic hat?]

Schwarzenegger to Outsource Imprisonment of Mexicans… In Mexico

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You can say anything about California’s governor but you cannot deny the guy’s gotta head full of brilliant ideas.

In his most recent political -and economic- potential breakthrough, the Governator is proposing to pay the Mexican government to house the estimated 20,000 undocumented immigrants that are incarcerated in California. Why, it’s simple!

“Think about it. We pay the Mexican government to build the prison in Mexico and then we have these undocumented immigrants be down there in prison. With their prison guards and all this, it’s half the cost to build and half the cost to operate the prison. We gain $1 billion right there that could go into higher education.”

Of course! Just imagine the world of possibilities: Mexican prisoners will get better food and hopefully better treatment (because they will be watched by their “own people”) while Californians will get a better access to higher education. This, in turn, will create better educated people, so hopefully in the future they will not screw up when picking their elected officials.

This is a win-win situation, people!

It’s NOT the Network. It’s la Fiesta Total!

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I suppose my career counselor was right when he said advertising was not for me. Otherwise, how could I possibly explain my failure to conceive a creative piece like the one above? Showing mariachis and folkloric dancers to show your cellphone provider has coverage in Mexico??!

Shame on me.

Still, there are other creative pieces I like much better, at least in their use of the ubiquitous Mariachi, including French’s, Lucas and CNN Expansión. [Not to mention, of course, political campaigns like that of Miss Meg Whitman in California.]

Ajúa!

Brüno’s ‘Brutality’ Against Mexicans Already Annoying Some non-Mexicans

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mexicanchairs

As if there was nothing better to worry about us, “poor Mexicans” (i.e. economic collapse, rampant violence, daily kidnappings, swine flu, etc. etc.) the latest controversy regarding my people has to do with the upcoming Mexican release of Brüno, the movie featuring a gay model-turned-TV reporter played by Sacha Baron Cohen.

In his regular Miami Herald column, Argentinean journalist Andrés Oppenheimer slams Brüno for being “particularly brutal to Mexicans.” The brutality, he says, is clear during a scene in which Brüno invites his celebrity guests to sit on top of live Mexican men on their fours.

“Come and sit on our great furniture,” Brüno tells one of his show’s guests, Paula Abdul. “These are our Mexican chair people. Demi Moore has two of them in her house.”

To spice up the column, Oppenheimer quotes yet another Bruno: Bruno Ferrari, the head of Pro-Mexico, the Mexican government agency in charge of revamping the country’s image abroad, who confesses to having mixed feelings about the whole thing (though I’m not really sure if he knew anything about Brüno). Promptly, he sentenced:

“We will have to do a profound analysis to see how to react to this.”

Really!!!

(I’m happy to know my family’s tax money is finally being put into something useful.)

Looking Like a Flu-Sickened Mexican Will Help you Get a Seat in London’s Underground

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image

That’s it! First it was Burger King, then South Park. And now Schweppes is reportedly using a sombrero-wearing Mexican fellow suffering from swine flu to pitch their ridiculously refreshing beverages! Wanna seat on the tube? Grab a box of kleenex and a giant sombrero and off you go!

(It is likely that this “ad” was born and lives only in the bowels of the Internet… but if it’s a real Schweppes campaign, I CANNOT wait for the ensuing outrage and lame apology by some agency!)

Pardon???!!!

Hat tip [pun intended] to my friend, Gutierritos

That’s It! First Burger King… Now, South Park?

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It seems that mainstream media and marketing gurus are getting their kicks making fun of poor, defenseless Mexicans.

On the heels of the Burger King Texican Whopper fiasco, comes yet another public “offense” against the Mexican people; this time from our friends enemies at South Park. The episode shows an embarrassed Felipe Calderón grilled on what his government has done with all foreign aid –presumably granted by extraterrestrials.

[Little do they know Mexico’s government does wonders with that money, including bringing beaches and ice skating to the masses. Fighting crime and drug lords? Well, that can wait.]

p.s. I wonder how long it will take for some offended Mexican official with nothing to do to urge South Park to take down the episode…anyone?

Obama + Calderón: Brought Together by Nonsense

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desatino

It didn’t take long for Mexican cartoonists to take on the whole Burger King brouhaha.

In the image, Obama is seeing as the tall, lanky gringo who poses next to a chubby -and tiny- Felipe Calderón. These two, however, are not “Brought together by destiny,” as the Texican Whopper, but “Brought together by nonsense.”

ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

Image: Calderón. (Reforma) 

Hat tip: Carlos Gutiérrez

What’s a Few Guns When You Can Make Some Extra ‘Dinerito’?

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0916covdx1Undeterred by American TV anchors reporting on Armageddon south of the border -and despite what Anderson Cooper wants you to believe— U.S. manufacturers are flocking to Mexico in search of some extra dinerito. (Even when things are so messed up that BusinessWeek is using rifles to spell out the name of the country!)

According to the April 20th issue of BusinessWeek big business is standing its ground for one simple reason: 

“Manufacturers have good reason to hang tough. The 41% drop in the peso against the dollar since August has made Mexico an even cheaper place to manufacture: Factory workers in Juárez can be hired for $1.50 an hour.” 

$1.50 an hour!?? Good lord! That’s not even enough to get you a spicy Whopper across the border. Crap!