Alchemy Polish vodka commercial - "Polaks innovations"

I found an article about it in a Polish newspapers. It is regarding a commercial of a Polish vodka. It is supposed to be funny and for me it is. But mostly it was done this way to bring controversy and for advertising controversy is everything. But it says Poles are outraged with that. Any opinions?

I think it is very funny, if the Poles want to be offended, let them be offended. It would be like being offended watching Borat.

why are they playing a Russian music in the background+ speaker has a Russian accent beats me - Borat comes to mind again.

What company is this for? Polish in the country take offense to this. American Polish have a bit more a sense of humour about these things. It's a very big difference in cultures we live in. In the states we constantly crack on heritage, but in Poland they see it more as an insult. Most Polish here also don't get the American jokes about stupid polish inventions. It is not something they really know about here. My gf when I first told her Americans have the image Polish are stupid she was shocked. In Europe they are seen as thieves.

Polish traveling will sometimes joke if they see a Polish license plate at a campsite. Better lock your car, there are other Polish here. Things like that.

Actually, the Kazakhs felt offended after watching Borat. Just like the Slovaks were offended after "Hostel". It's just the way it is in the world, that countries without well established image, like those tree mentioned before, want to be perceived by the rest of the world as a normal country rather than a backwater one, where all inhabitants are either stupid, racist or a bunch of murderers. UK, France, Germany don't need to worry that people might actually believe that the jokes told about them are true as their position in the world is basically well established and people just know better. But Poland, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania? Note the case I'm afraid.

I think it's high time to abolish these myth that Polish people don't laugh at themselves. One of my favorite polish comedy is "Dzień Świra" and it definitely isn't about Germans, Brits or whatever. We don't have problems with laughing at ourselves. We just don't like when other people laugh at us as very often it isn't meant in a nice friendly way.

As for the commercial, what's up with t the Russian accent of the lector (actually not only lector, but also the word na zdrowie is pronounced in a Russian way. Kurwa is OK though :) ) and with the he Russian song in the background? Confusing. It's stil funny tough. :)

Any vodka fans tried Alchemy?

I didn't even see this stuff in Poland. it's prob made for export only like Pravda.

I am not offended by the advertisement. I think it is a poor quality advertisement that has nothing to do with vodka. I never drink alcohol anyway so am not that interested.

Not really what I meant. Americans in general won't take offense to this stuff. We are used to it, not from friend to friend, but anywhere in general. Polish recently have been upset at numerous digs at them. Americans normally will brush it off. We get it from the brits all the time.

It's the first time I hear about a vodka named Pravda. :) I think tyou are right Zgubiony. Myself, I'm a Wyborowa lover. :)


Ahh, yes. True. But again, it's because we are afraid that people actually might think that those jokes about Poles being dumb can be perceived as truth and not as what they really are, plain jokes. Americans don't have to prove anything and seem not care what others think about them. I think it’s the right way and I really like it about you guys. But shouldn’t we be talking about vodka? :)

I undesrstand that some people would be, but the true interest is not limited to watching and forming their assumptions solely on alcohol ads.

If anything, some Polish people might do more damage to the image of Poland than the ad above;)

pravdavodka.com

But we are not taking about people with a sole interest in Slovakia and Kazakhstan, but about ordinary folk, which makes probably about 99% of western worlds population. Still, I'm not saying that to feel offended is the right way. I just try to understand people who do feel offended by such commercials. That’s all.

I find this commercial pretty funny. Maybe polish will finally sell some vodka. I could never understand why everybody can sell their vodka, including French, yet Polish cannot?

I always find polish humour funny. Especially when they mock themselves. I can understand the bit of worry about opinion abroad. You do get a bad rap from a lot of other countries. That has more to do with prejudice than anything. Don't think the commercials will do it. They will dislike Polish no matter what. Americans are hated and misrepresented constantly. The most famous one is "you Americans voted for Bush twice, so you get what you deserve." I hear this a lot and I never voted for him.

As for vodka, this doesn't really classify, but I normally have a bottle of Krupnik handy to keep me warm during the winter. For vodka it would have to be Wyborowa with some apple juice.

point taken. It takes all kinds.

I am so lazy today:0

Hmmm. Not if you tell them an off-color joke about their ethnic origins. Ever try testing a black American's sense of humor, for instance?

The problem is that people still feel free to tell Polack jokes even if they would consider Jewish or Black jokes an insult to humanity. There IS something wrong there, I think.

well get your own house in order first before complaining, I have seen quite a few commercials in Poland where big discounts are being offered and they play Scottish music to the advert or have people dressed up in kilts.

I have Black and Jewish friends back home and we always tell these jokes to each other. Sure there are always people who are going to get offended, but the majority don't. It doesn't become a huge issue like it does in Poland.

Let us see a commercial about money hungry kikes or criminal watermelon drinking negros and see the reaction.

Get over it, Przemas. This commercial is funny, not hateful. You are out of arguments, so you're trying to be hateful. Tisk-tisk.

Not a single hateful ounce in my body friend, just suggesting the hypocrisy is all.

Sure Przemas. It just seems to me like so many Poles have a stick up their ass - just get over it, get a life, it's just a funny comercial that's all.

Truth be told, I was removed from my Native land and planted on foreign soil as a young man. I was in a school in which I was but the only Pole on the grounds. I felt the psychological and physical torment associated with the demeaning word “Polak” during that time because of my last name and accent. I felt the blood drip down to my lips from my nose defending my Native land and myself as an individual whom never meant anybody there any harm yet had to get in psychical altercations because of my background and the bullies whom saw me as an easy target. You tell me then friend, how I should take the word Polak as a joke?

I damn well know I was not the only Polish individual that suffered under this moniker across the Atlantic dice, go cry your hypocritical ass to bed elsewhere.

See this Przemas? -----> .
This is the world's smallest violin...
lol

to me it is a very beautiful sound my friend :)

i actually find them funny. i can so it can be demeaning but I know better. i showed the ad to my dad and he was cracking up as well. if it came out and said Polaks were stupid and completely incompetent then it'd be different.

It was dumb. Dry sense of humor.
Must have been done by someone in the UK who hates Poles.
It wasn't funny.
No reason to get upset about it, Poles should just shrug it off.

I would say the stick is no bigger than that up other ethnic groups' behinds. People tell all kinds of jokes in private, but not many would feel it wise to make a commercial playing on Jewish or black stereotypes - they'd get eaten alive. When Poles speak up against these kinds of things, all of a sudden they have no sense of humor. Right.

yes, because you're hypocrites – see my earlier post.

"Quite a few"? You must be really searching them out. In 12 years in Poland I have only seen kilts on people advertising a language school - hardly an insult.

And as far as hypocrisy goes, I don't think Poles are any more hypocritical than anyone else. I do agree, however, that as a nation we could learn to be more sensitive towards other ethnic groups. Of course it's pretty hard to convince people of the advantages of tolerance in as ethnically monolithic society as Poland, but it's probably going to happen sooner or later with more people travelling abroad and more coming in from other countries for various reasons.

I still say all that doesn't mean that Poles should not speak up when someone portrays them as a band of idiots on national TV.

Funny! :)