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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Whopper of an insult for Mexico
Source: Agencies |
April 15, 2009, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MEXICO is protesting what it says is a whopper of an insult.
An advertisement for Burger King's Texican Whopper burger that has run in Europe shows a small wrestler dressed in a cape resembling a Mexican flag. The wrestler teams up with a lanky American cowboy almost twice his height to illustrate the cross-border blend of flavors.
"The taste of Texas with a little spicy Mexican," a narrator's voice says.
The taller cowboy boosts the wrestler up to reach high shelves and helps him clean windows, while the Mexican helps the cowboy open a jar.
Mexico's ambassador to Spain said he had written to a Burger King's offices in that nation objecting the ad and asking that it be removed. Jorge Zermeno said the ads "improperly use the stereotyped image of a Mexican."
Burger King did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company is best known for its signature Whopper hamburger.
One of the things that most angered Mexican officials was a print edition of the ad showing the wrestler wearing what appear to be a Mexican flag as a cloak.
"We have to tell these people that in Mexico we have a great deal of respect for our flag," Zermeno said.
Mexico has very strict rules about using the flag. Last year, the government fined a foreign-owned publishing house, Random House Mondadori SA, for showing disrespect to the country's flag in a video posted online.
The video showed a literature fan wearing a Mexican flag like a cape as he barges into a book signing and rips a piece of cloth from the coat of Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho.
It is not the first time fast-food outlets have offended Mexican sensibilities.
Mexicans and other Hispanics in the United States objected to a Taco Bell ad from the 1990s that featured a pint-sized talking Chihuahua that spoke with a Mexican accent.
An advertisement for Burger King's Texican Whopper burger that has run in Europe shows a small wrestler dressed in a cape resembling a Mexican flag. The wrestler teams up with a lanky American cowboy almost twice his height to illustrate the cross-border blend of flavors.
"The taste of Texas with a little spicy Mexican," a narrator's voice says.
The taller cowboy boosts the wrestler up to reach high shelves and helps him clean windows, while the Mexican helps the cowboy open a jar.
Mexico's ambassador to Spain said he had written to a Burger King's offices in that nation objecting the ad and asking that it be removed. Jorge Zermeno said the ads "improperly use the stereotyped image of a Mexican."
Burger King did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company is best known for its signature Whopper hamburger.
One of the things that most angered Mexican officials was a print edition of the ad showing the wrestler wearing what appear to be a Mexican flag as a cloak.
"We have to tell these people that in Mexico we have a great deal of respect for our flag," Zermeno said.
Mexico has very strict rules about using the flag. Last year, the government fined a foreign-owned publishing house, Random House Mondadori SA, for showing disrespect to the country's flag in a video posted online.
The video showed a literature fan wearing a Mexican flag like a cape as he barges into a book signing and rips a piece of cloth from the coat of Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho.
It is not the first time fast-food outlets have offended Mexican sensibilities.
Mexicans and other Hispanics in the United States objected to a Taco Bell ad from the 1990s that featured a pint-sized talking Chihuahua that spoke with a Mexican accent.
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