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Take a look at this billboard I recently saw for Hacienda, a regional Mexican restaurant chain here in Indiana. Their food's pretty good, but they're definitely not taking the high road with their marketing strategy.
Obviously their "Get Chip Faced" slogan is a thinly disguised version of "sh*t faced." That has to be what it means, right? I can't think of anything else they could be going for here.
Oddly enough this isn't the first time they've done something like this. A while back they were running these "Code Brown" billboards all around town.
As you no doubt know, many hospitals use the "code" terminology to alert the staff of an emergency without alarming the public. Code Red means "Emergency." Code Blue means "Cardiac Arrest." And Code Brown means "Patient has soiled themselves, their bed and possibly the walls, bring a mop and bucket."
Someone on the Hacienda Marketing Team is definitely a big fan of turd-based advertising puns.
Get a load of this billboard for local Mexican restaurant Hacienda. It features a nurse displaying a desert dish that consists of an enormous cookie topped with three scoops of ice cream and drizzled with chocolate syrup.
Some overpaid corporate genius at Hacienda's headquarters got the bright idea to name this desert, "Code Brown." Oh, how I wish I could have sat in on the marketing meeting for this promotion, just so I could find out how this idea ever got out the door.
As everyone knows by now, many hospitals use the "code" terminology to alert the staff of an emergency, without alarming the public. The meanings of the codes vary from hospital to hospital, but generally they go like this:
Code Red: Emergency
Code Blue: Cardiac arrest, bring the crash cart
Code Brown: Patient has soiled themselves, bring a mop and bucket
What would possess a company to use that terminology on their restaurant billboard? Especially one promoting chocolate?
And lest you think it might have been an innocent mistake, my boss pointed out that the obviously fake nurse in the ad is named "Tina LaDuttie." That's "LaDuttie," pronounced like "doodie." That pretty much proves it was deliberate.
Some friendly advice for the Hacienda marketing team: Customers generally don't care to think about poo while they're eating Mexican food (though they'll be thinking about it all too soon the day after). Especially chocolate covered Mexican food. Perhaps next time you should pick a name for your desert that doesn't remind people of an uncontrollable bowel movement.
Oddly enough this isn't the first time they've done something like this. A while back they were running these "Code Brown" billboards all around town. 
