Home
Business
Metro
Nation
World
Sports
Feature
Opinion
View more »Opinion Columns
Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
Time to make dog-raising regulations bite
Community canteens fill an important gap in lives of the elderly
Sunday
- Subscribe
Related News
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.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
