The ad for Absolut Vodka, supposedly directed at a Mexican audience, has caused a major hangover for the manufacturer. While the ad probably get the Absolut marketing department more tingly than Chris Mathews pasty thighs at an Obama speech, it turns out that gringos didn't really get the edgy frisson. And, since no one can tell the difference between one vodka and another after the first two shots... well Valu-Rite (hat tip to Ace) is a lot cheaper than Absolut and it only insults your liver.
I, of course, was stuck by the similarity in the pre-Zorro map Absolute used, and the map in SINS OF THE ASSASSIN, which shows North America 2040. The story arc of book 3 of the Assassin trilogy involves the growing expansionist demands of the Aztlan Empire, or, as Dr. Juan Hernandez, Hispanic outreach advisor to John McCaine would phrase it, "We are betting on the Mexican population within the United States will ... think of Mexico first. Third generation or seventh generation, I want every Mexican to think of Mexico first." Fun ensues. I need a drink.
