Before attending the Anderson Cooper event this past Saturday (which was great, but how much did he cost?), I went to Mad 4 Mex for a good ol’ Tex Mex dinner. As it one of the first times I ate there without also drinking a Big-Azz Margarita, my sober eyes were finally able to fully explore the menu beyond the drink specials.
What I found on the menu that night was somewhat concerning. You see, the obnoxious and sometimes-abrasive food descriptions were far less effective at convincing me to eat the enchiladas and instead left me questioning the motivations behind the management’s marketing decisions.
Okay, I understand that Mad 4 isn’t the most family-orientated establishment, and that humor probably plays a role in catering to a predominantly college crowd. So I can look over the stereotypes they play up about hippies while describing their vegetarian “Angry Hippie Burrito”…
“Have your Birken stocks dropped? Your hacky been sacked? … Smell?”
… and I can ignore the fact that they poke fun and exploit the celebrity culture while pitching something like their “Winehouse Fajita”…
“Eat it quick - this crazy dish is set to self-destruct.”
… but the sentence that caught my attention was perhaps the most poorly conceived, which described their “San Francisco” hot wings as “lisp-smacking good” (See photo, or if you don’t believe it, check out the main menu).
Now, I’ll leave it to you to decide whether you find that offensive or not, but my question is this: what exactly was the management of Mad 4 trying to accomplish by citing a gay stereotype?
Did Mad 4 think that it would pander to the gay customers, who would then order the San Francisco wings to reward the restaurant for taking the time to think of them? Or was it instead intended to target the homophobe customer base, who would, inspired by the menu, laugh and joke about “those queers” while wolfing down their “Wingos?”
More importantly, did anyone at HQ even bother to proof-read the menu and realize that this might be deemed by some as slightly inappropriate?
I don’t get offended easily, and I believe stereotypes can be funny if done well in the appropriate context. However, the idea that Mad 4 was making business by exploiting a generalization about the gay population left me confused and frankly, annoyed. There’s a reason why companies don’t use stereotype-laden ads like this anymore:
Also, their food really sucks azz without the Big-Azz Margaritas.
Tags: Amy Winehouse, Big-Azz Margarita, Hippies, Mad 4 Mex, San Francisco
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October 9th, 2008 at 11:49 am
“I don’t get offended easily” - errr….really?? You wrote a whole article about how you were offended by silly items in a mexican restaurant menu. dr nipsey prescribes some deep introspection before you write again.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Hey “Dr. Nipsey”,
First of all, thank you very much for reading and commenting. I appreciate your reply; however, I do think there is an important distinction to be made between getting offended and recognizing something might be offensive and inappropriate to a segment of society.
To clarify, I am not gay; the menu itself did not insult my personal lifestyle. By writing this post, I am only pointing out that I believe business practices that exploit stereotypes may indeed offend its potential customers. I question why a business would put a risk like that upon themselves when it clearly could have been avoided, and other methods pursued.
Thanks again,
TK
October 10th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
TK, thanks for responding to my offhand sarcasm, i sincerely appreciate your time.
By your same reasoning, might not some take offense to you writing “those queers”? I realize you threw quotes around it and attributed it to a fictional homophobe, but the same point could have been made without adding additional bigoted language into the situation. Med Mex did it to sell wings (mmmm….wings), you did it to sell your point - maybe not equal, but equivalent.
See my point? I hate to quote Fred Nietzsche (ok, that’s a lie, i love quoting Nietzsche), but “Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird.”
wird!