I just heard about a promotion by Pizza Patron, a Dallas-based pizza chain that caters to a largely Latino audience. They serve mostly classic pizza parlor food, with a few Mexican-style twists such as offering chorizo and jalapeno toppings and calling cheese queso. On June 5, the chain is giving away a free pizza to anyone who orders their pizza in Spanish. Up to 80,000 customers could walk out with their order, plus a free pie, just for exhibiting some culture (or for non-Latinos, putting in a little extra effort).
Obviously, someone somewhere threw the discrimination card. It was played by the Conservative Caucus, an organization resembling a Rush Limbaugh-themed treehouse club, headed by Peter Thomas, the chairman/spokesman/activist/party pooper head honcho. His quote in Yahoo! News was “It seems to punish people who can’t speak Spanish, and I resent that.” He was even joined by Hispanic Marketing Group president Marcela Gomez, who offered, “Maybe they thought it was a cute thing to do, but I think it’s discrimination.” This last part is a little confusing, considering HMG define themselves as a “bilingual and bicultural marketing communications agency.” The menu is in English, the customer is speaking Spanish. How is that not a completely defensible bilingual transaction? I have no idea.
Fortunately, the smell of bullshit travels pretty far, and the CC’s Facebook page is already gathering jeering comments. Feel free to add to them if you like — after all , creativity in advertising is something that should be rewarded with praise, not smacked down by bored, out-of-touch stone throwers.
Conservative Caucus, andate a la mierda.
