The Coalition of the Swilling

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August 01, 2005

'Pathetic'. Now There's a Good Word...

We French are pathetic losers, says ad chief

The President of one of the world's biggest advertising agencies has issued a damning state-of-the-nation assessment that describes France as being in steep decline and his countrymen as "narrowed and stunted".

Maurice Lévy, the head of the media giant Publicis, whose company owns Saatchi and Saatchi and has offices in 100 countries across six continents, said France had failed to get the 2012 Olympics because the world now saw it as a nation of perdants - "losers".

For good measure, he described the 35-hour week as "absurd" and the wails of complaint that followed Paris's loss of the Games to London as "pathetic"....

..."What I wrote was hard, but true. France is not in a crisis, it's worse than that. A crisis is usually sudden and short, while we are in an endemic situation," he said. "I've just had enough and wanted to say what I felt."

In the article, Mr Lévy said the French had only themselves to blame for losing the Olympics, and that the country needed a wake-up call. "We have narrowed and stunted ourselves and we paint ourselves as losers, and no one wants to be among the losers. It's time we opened our eyes wide, took an icy shower and looked reality in the face: we are in decline, going down a slippery slope.

I wonder if anyone in France actually read this.

Swill Salute to Captain Ed.

Posted by tree hugging sister at August 1, 2005 10:54 AM

Comments

Posted by: Nightfly at August 1, 2005 12:39 PM

Posted by: Ken Summers at August 1, 2005 01:50 PM