Wodka Vodka Pulls Humorous Yet Possibly Anti-Semitic Billboard

“Christmas Quality, Hanukkah Pricing” may not have been politically correct, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t funny.

Wodka Vodka is a new, well-reviewed, brand of vodka that is attempting to challenge prestige brands like Grey Goose, with lower prices and greater taste. They are also attempting to catch the attention of the public with an eye-catching, controversial and admittedly quite funny advertising campaign. So far Wodka has “insulted” the residents of Newark, NJ with the slogan “Hamptons Quality, Newark Pricing.” Now they’ve moved on to religions.

Their most recent billboard appeared above the West Side Highway in Manhattan and has been taken down due to numerous complaints the Anti-Defamation League ruled for the billboard to be taken down.

“In a crude and offensive way of trying to make a point that their vodka is high quality and inexpensive, the billboards evoke a Jewish holiday to imply something that is cheap and of lesser value when compared to the higher value of a Christian holiday,” Meier said. “Particularly with the long history of anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews and money, with the age-old notion that Jews are cheap, to use the Jewish holiday in dealing with issues of money is clearly insensitive and inappropriate.”

For a segment of society known for and very proud of their self-depreciating sense of humor, they’re getting rather verklempt over this, especially considering one of their own wrote the ad. According to the Washington Post the creative lead of the ad campaign, Brian Gordon, is Jewish and simply meant to make a funny billboard that coveys Hanukkah’s understatedness.

In an interview with CNN, Gordon goes on further to explain his thought process behind the advertisement, carefully leaving out the Jewish stereotype of being cheap.

“As a Jew growing up, the only thing we could say was we had eight nights, and Christmas had only day, so we had eight days for the price of one,” he told CNN. “With our brand, our message is you can get more for less, eight nights versus one, and we don’t need to wrap ourselves in fancy packaging.”

His explanation, while rational, sounds like a load of bullshit. However I don’t see a reason why it should be considered anti-Semitic if it was written by a Semite. I think we need to institute a Jewish comedians council that exists solely to determine whether a Jewish person is flaunting the rules of the Hebrew Comedy Canon. The committee would include Mel Brooks, Jerry Seinfeld and Woody Allen; with Brooks serving as president.

Because as a non-Jewish person I cannot accurately decide whether this billboard is funny without being offensive, but if Mel Brooks chuckles everyone else should follow suit.

[Fox News & Wash Po]