Month: February 2008

The Brits, Too, Think This is Mexican Food

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Ok, my friends. Turns out the U.S. is not the only country with a twisted view of Mexican food. In fact, General Mills’ Old El Paso Fajita Dinner Kit (yes, a kit!) is the biggest selling “ethnic” product in the U.K., worth upwards of £12.5 million each year.

“It’s no accident that Old El Paso is the clear No 1 in the Mexican food category in the UK. Innovation is vital, even within a thriving category, to safeguard its ongoing and long-term success,” Andy Foweather, Sales Director for General Mills UK, told Thinkretail.

Wondering what’s in the kit? Here it goes: (I’m reading directly from the box. No joke.)

10 flour tortillas: Water, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil with mono-and diglycerides, glycerin, corn syrup solids, baking powder (baking soda, corn starch, sodium aluminum sulfate, calcium sulfate, monocalcium phosphate), salt, potassium sorbate and calcium propionate (preservatives), monoglycerides, fumaric acid, L-Cysteine hydrochloride.

Fajita seasoning mix: corn starch, maltodextrin, hydrolyzed corn and soy protein, sugar, salt, spice chili pepper, onion powder, citric acid, artificial color, silicon dioxide (anticaking agent) natural smoke flavor (?) sulfiting agents and ethoxyquin.

Mmmmmm… sodium aluminum sulfate seasoned with silicon dioxide and a natural smoke flavor? That will surely make you scream ¡Ajúa!

Mexico Wants to Know Why Mexicans Leave (Duh!)

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Here’s a good one. The Mexican government is asking Mexican nationals living abroad to send in their migratory tales to participate in a worldwide writing contest aimed at getting a “better sense of how their former citizens live abroad, what drove them to leave Mexico, what challenges they face and what they need to integrate and succeed, particularly in the United States.”

(Well, wouldn’t the Mexican government just have to look at its own policies to figure out what drove people out? duh!)

In any case, the lucky winner will receive a prize of approximately $2,000 in cash and a free trip to Mexico to accept the award. Yupi!

But wait a second: how are they going to send them back to the U.S.? will they be needing extra polleros? (just asking).

U.S. Dental Tourism is Boon to Mexican Border Towns

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mr-tooth.jpgTrivia: would you risk your life wondering about a city ran by heavily armed drug lords to save $400 on dental work?
Sure! say an increasing number of Americans who, faced with a prohibitively dental care in their home country, are flocking to Mexican border cities to receive dental treatment.
“A dental crown in the U.S. costs upward of $600 per tooth, compared to $190 or less in Mexico, so U.S. tourists are shrugging off concerns about brutal drugs wars being waged in Mexico’s border cities in a bid to access some cheap dental treatment,” according to British Web site Dentistry.
My favorite part, though, is the fact that this gringo dental boom is bringing some unexpected new business in the area.
Rio Dental, a clinic based in Ciudad Juárez, even boasts on its –all English-language– Web site: “We can even pick you up from the airport in El Paso… We are conveniently located just minutes across the border from El Paso, Texas, in Juarez, Mexico. A dentist with affordable prices is closer than you think.”

Latinos Display Beautiful Bodies to be on ‘People’

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Ever wondered what it takes to become instantly popular? Check out People en Español‘s latest marketing stunt: an online, user-generated content page on Yahoo Telemundo, calling on young Hispanics to become the 51st most-beautiful person in America.

A few days before entries closed Feb. 3, more than 5,000 photos had been posted, sparking more than 34,000 comments, often extremely personal and ranging from snarky to gushing, wrote Laurel Wentz in Advertising Age.

Among hundreds of entries is that of Fernando Gonzalez, a “provocatively posed shirtless man” who has garnered over 4,400 comments. According to Mr. Gonzalez, he should be chosen as one of People en Español‘s most beautiful people because he has a very big… heart. Yeah. Right.

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Others, like Maribel Nuñez, resort to a sexy, casual pose, which includes holding a cucumber and resting it over her right shoulder. (????!!)

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I’m still not sure if Mr. Gonzalez or Ms. Nuñez will make the cut (the winner will be chosen Feb. 28) but they surely have given me some clothing / posing ideas to consider, and hopefully get at least two or three comments from my loyal lazy writers readers.

Dallas Attorney Didn’t Know Mexicans = Beaners

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Remember that ridiculous story about Beaner’s Coffee changing its name because it didn’t want to offend Hispanics? Well, now a poor Dallas lawyer is taking the heat for comparing the difficulty of counting the number of Hispanic voters in a city with guessing the number of “beans in a jar.”

“The two methods presented in this case to determine if there is a Hispanic voter majority in the plaintiffs’ district bring to mind the contest where customers are asked to guess the number of beans in a large jar,” attorney C. Robert Heath wrote in a legal brief on behalf of Farmers Ranch (that same place that doesn’t like Mexicans painting their homes in colors)

According to the Dallas Morning News, Mr. Heath has since apologized saying he wasn’t familiar with the slur. “It was just an analogy, and obviously it was ill chosen because it was offensive to some persons,” Mr. Heath said. “That was entirely unintentional, and I apologize for it.”

Shame on you Mr. Heath. If you really know Mexicans, you should know what we’re all about.

That’s it! I’m off to have a big plate of frijoles. Ajúa!