The other day I received a very interesting email. It was from an advertising agency and they asked me if I would be interesting in embedding in my Spanish site a video of one of their clients. It was for the campaign in Argentina for Stella Artois. They said they would pay me for every hit coming from my motherland. They also tried to sell me the idea by telling how well made the piece is and how much the people visiting my website would enjoy watching it.
I would be lieing like a campaigning polititian, if I said I wasn't at least a little flattered by the offer. After all, whether we like it or not, Stella Artois is (at least for the moment) the flagship product of the biggest brewing group in the world. That, either directly or indirectly, my blog has caught their attention is something that makes me feel pretty good.
Needless to say, I rejected the offer. It is a moral question, I didn't even bother to see how much they would have paid me (though if the email had mentioned a amount in Euro of several digits I would have thought about it a bit longer. Ha!). From the beginning I've been critisising both the beer and the company that makes it very strongly, so I didn't think putting some of their promotional material would have been correct. And I also doubt that my regular visitors would have liked to watch that video as much as the email claims.
I did watch the video, I won't tell you where, though I am sure many of you have seen it already. It is one of those culturally ascetic pieces, typical of many global companies. Well produced, it is, but it is also something that could have been used for pretty much any other kind of product, the brand doesn't show up until the last couple of frames. On the other side, the creators seem to ignore the fact that in Argentina Christmas is celebrated in Summer. I have never understood why so many companies down there use winter iconography in a country where, around then, temperatures can easily get to 40°, senseless. There is one very funny thing at the end, the slogan "Originally Created for Christmas". I was completely unaware that Stella Artois was a Christmas beer. Maybe that is why I don't like it, I've always drunk it out of season.
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I would be lieing like a campaigning polititian, if I said I wasn't at least a little flattered by the offer. After all, whether we like it or not, Stella Artois is (at least for the moment) the flagship product of the biggest brewing group in the world. That, either directly or indirectly, my blog has caught their attention is something that makes me feel pretty good.
Needless to say, I rejected the offer. It is a moral question, I didn't even bother to see how much they would have paid me (though if the email had mentioned a amount in Euro of several digits I would have thought about it a bit longer. Ha!). From the beginning I've been critisising both the beer and the company that makes it very strongly, so I didn't think putting some of their promotional material would have been correct. And I also doubt that my regular visitors would have liked to watch that video as much as the email claims.
I did watch the video, I won't tell you where, though I am sure many of you have seen it already. It is one of those culturally ascetic pieces, typical of many global companies. Well produced, it is, but it is also something that could have been used for pretty much any other kind of product, the brand doesn't show up until the last couple of frames. On the other side, the creators seem to ignore the fact that in Argentina Christmas is celebrated in Summer. I have never understood why so many companies down there use winter iconography in a country where, around then, temperatures can easily get to 40°, senseless. There is one very funny thing at the end, the slogan "Originally Created for Christmas". I was completely unaware that Stella Artois was a Christmas beer. Maybe that is why I don't like it, I've always drunk it out of season.
Na Zdravi!
Choose your preferred Prague hotels and get free transport.
Good to see you sticking to your principles!
ReplyDeleteActually I'm wondering why they got in touch in the first place - promoting crap beer goes against everything that's written here. Did they even bother reading the site?
ReplyDeleteActually, I don't think they read my site. I remarked that to the person who wrote me, explaining why I was refusing their offer. He was really cool about it, I must say.
ReplyDeleteThough, honestly, I don't think they care too much about it..
Take the cash and post it up and continue to slag their beer off.
ReplyDeleteWIN-WIN ?
Great blog by the way.
Well, I have seen many good to very good Steall Artois TV ads. As I've seen many funny A-B ads too. Well, it does not say them make good beers but the ads can be much better than those of their competitiors.
ReplyDeleteHonza, www.svetpiva.cz
Defintely! Quilmes in Argentina has always had great ads. Even their slogan "El Sabor del Encuentro" which translates somehow like "the tate of meeting (with friends)" is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteAnd here we have several examples. I've always liked those ads of Kozel, some of them are really nice.
But this one in particular is rather dull....