It’s Foodie Friday and it’s also Cinco De Mayo. Contrary to popular belief, what’s celebrated today is not Mexican Independence Day. Rather, it’s a celebration of the Mexican victory at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War, which came after Mexico’s independence from Spain, the Mexican-American War, and the Mexican Civil War. It centers around Puebla which, coincidentally, is really the heart of Mexico’s food world.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Just as there really isn’t a lot of corned beef and cabbage eaten in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, so too is this not a day of taco and frozen margaritas in Mexico. Not that it stops damn near every “Mexican” restaurant in this country from pushing those things today. Hitting a Taco Bell up to celebrate doesn’t happen in Mexico. In fact, Taco Bell doesn’t exist there (they tried; Mexicans won’t eat there). Instead, the cuisine of Puebla features moles (the sauces, not the critter), chalupas, and Chiles En Nogada, a stuffed poblano pepper with a walnut and pomegranate sauce.
Why do I raise this? Because it raises an issue that applies to any business. Actually, it’s sort of the “fake news” issue. Just as political entities will raise money based on a widely believed, but false, narrative, so too are all of the places serving tacos and margaritas selling a lie of sorts. The question is should we as businesses engage in that?
Some people might say that “ethical marketing” is an oxymoron. A lot of marketers are happy to bend the truth if in their minds what they’re doing is inconsequential. In this case, I suspect that the perpetrators don’t even know they’re misrepresenting the facts and, frankly, I’m not very sure that it matters. But it raises a point that very much does matter. If a business is willing to stretch the truth on things that don’t matter, at what point do they cross the line and do so when it really does?
We’ve all seen ads that lie. Ads for “male enhancers,” cures for the common cold, or even just photoshopped photos are rampant. While promoting a frozen margarita to celebrate something that didn’t happen on this day is far from an outright lie, you take my point. There’s nothing wrong with selling and using the language of sales to promote but we need to remember that we live in a world where information is easily found and lies are rapidly debunked and the truth disseminated. And with that, I’m off to find a torta for lunch!
Consult Keith 