No matter what the reason for producing it was, it still leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

I wonder what the reaction would be here if I were to mock up a similar advert using 11/3 as a backdrop?

John
BarcaBlog

First, i’m a spanish guy so please forgive my bad english level.

Second, i want to say that the information I found in the web is not all right and is creating trouble. I, personally, don’t want to be called Nazi or Fascist.

This was an ad for EL PAIS, the most improtant newspaper in Spain. It is FALSe that this paper is communist and enjoyed the 11-S. It is true that EL PAIS supports the PSOE who are socialists but “socialism” is different in the USA than in europe. In USA it seems that socialism=communism, in UE socialism is a left-center way of doing politics. You could agree or not but they don’t dictate, kill and opress like communists or nazis did. They are nor authoritarists (autoritarios, i dont know the suitable word).

Second, the unfortunate ad is erroneus and they have retired it in one day. But i often read things like “the ad makes laugh of the victims and it’s a provocation”. False: the ad uses the example of 11-S and 11-M to say “a lot of things could happen in just one day: imagine in three months”. They say three months because they advertise a special offer of three free months of subscription. Not more.

It is a bad ad. They were wrong. But there’s nothing pollitical.

And the image you have in this page is totally false. I received the two ads, the one with the 11-s and the 11-M. If you want to generate hate towards Spanish people, that’s the way. Keep it!

Yes, some in the ‘blogging community’ can get ahead of themselves, as can the people who contribute comments to their postings.

The fact is, if it considers itself the ‘most important newspaper in Spain’ - as you seem to do - it should have taken the possible consequences of its actions in producing the advert (using a tragic event to do what? Sell more newspapers) a little more seriously than it obviously did.

Wasn’t it obvious that running such an ad would create such a fuss?

As for both I, Trevor and many others reproducing the advert for others to see and therefore voice an opinion (and indeed, raise a fuss), how else were we supposed to do it? By telepathy?

Trevor nor I are generating ‘hate towards Spain’. Idiots in El País and your man in La Moncloa don’t need our help to do that.

John
BarcaBlog

As Nash said, El País have issued an apology for the whole sorry episode.

In Spanish:

http://www.elpais.es/articuloCompleto.html?xref=20040916elpepuopi_1&type=Tes&anchor=elpporopi

An English translation at Southern Watch:

http://southernwatch.blogspot.com/