Yahoo News Emmy viewers rail against 'disrespectful' Anthony Bourdain whisky advert
Viewers of the Emmys have slammed whiskey brand Balvenie for broadcasting an advert featuring the late broadcaster and chef Anthony Bourdain during Monday night’s show.
Bourdain won a posthumous award for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program and Outstanding Informational Series or Special for his celebrated CNN show Parts Unknown.
But fans found the use of the advert distasteful, particularly as Bourdain had appeared in the ‘in memoriam’ section of the show not long before.
In the ad, Bourdain says: “If you feel in your heart, if you know, if you have reason to believe that you can be awesome at something, that you can do something unique that will shock, and astound, and terrify people and bewitch them — do that.”
A caption then read ‘And so you did. We’re proud to have shared the journey’.
Though it was intended as a tribute, it did not go down well at all.
Balvenie, tasty scotch, tasteless marketing. That @Bourdain ad was inappropriate. #EmmyAwards2018
— loulaz (@loulaz) September 18, 2018
tony bourdain is dead
so drink up
the balvenie, handcrafted scotch whiskey from banffshire
— (((Zach Linder))) (@zachlinder) September 18, 2018
Well, never drinking Balvenie.
— Bill Pearis (@soundbitesnyc) September 18, 2018
Anyone else find the #AnthonyBourdain whiskey commercial a little, what’s the word… tasteless? #EmmyAwards
— Tony Bravo (@TonyBravoSF) September 18, 2018
In another commercial act of disrespect for the dead, The Balvenie ran an Anthony Bourdain ad during the Emmys https://t.co/bJ2uscRH0V FastCompany
— cakeslovenian77 (@cakeslovenian72) September 18, 2018
I was very moved by what Anthony Bourdain said in that ad but I hate that they literally commercialized it
— Versha Sharma (@versharma) September 18, 2018
I never want to see that Anthony Bourdain scotch commercial again. #Emmys
— Carmél Carrillo (@CarmelCarrillo) September 18, 2018
Many noted that as well as the advert being – ultimately – a way of selling its products following his death, Bourdain also struggled with substance abuse over his lifetime.
So a company that sells an addictive product just did a tribute ad to Anthony Bourdain.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) September 18, 2018
soooo…… why would they posthumously use Anthony Bourdain for an alcohol commercial… when he dealt w alcoholism and depression his whole life…
— emoly (@soupdrinker) September 18, 2018
Yoooooooooooo! That Balvenie commercial was in the POOREST of taste. I know Anthony Bourdain didn’t die from alcohol but MAYBE don’t feature someone that struggled with and recently died from addiction in your whiskey commercial
— cbr™️ (@cbenjaminrucker) September 18, 2018
Bourdain had endorsed Balvenie, which is yet to comment on the matter, since 2015, one of very few commercial deals he made.
He died on June 8 in France, having taken his own life.
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