You Say Potato, I Say In Bad Taste….
The Denny’s Restaurant chain is apologizing for a commercial it ran that joked about the Irish Potato Famine.
The commercial was promoting an all-you-can-eat french fries and pancakes offer. This drew the ire of the Irish-American community who felt it made light of the potato famine that left more than a million people dead in the 19th century.
Your Mandarin is not really sure why they were offended when it was clear that the commercial portrayed the offer as a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the end of the famine. Maybe in June they can have an all-you-can-eat Matzo ball promotion to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. This is almost as bad as when McDonald’s used to bring back the McRib sandwich in February.
It never ceases to amaze your Mandarin at the stupidity and apparent insensitivity of marketers and advertising agencies. How many times have you seen a commercial that was funny, off-color, or down-right offensive where after seeing it you don’t remember what product was even being represented?
Now as many of our loyal and devoted followers can attest, your Mandarin does not tolerate the PC/victim-group cabal that is out there taking offence at every perceived slight in order to further their victim-rights agenda, but at the same time I do not condone the type of coarseness and insensitivity this kind of advertisement displays.
In all fairness though, Denny’s has taken the commercial off the air. And for those of you that can’t get enough of those delicious fries take heart – and a handful of Lipitor – the promotion is still on through the end of March.
The Mandarin, whose real name is 吏恆, joined the order in 1309, and introduced the Gormogons into England during the 18th Century.
The Mandarin enjoys spending time with his pet manticore, Βάρἰκος, or Barry (who can be found in the Bestiary). When not in the Castle…well, frankly, nobody is quite sure where he goes.
The Mandarin popularized the fine art of “gut booting,” by which he delivers a powerful kick to the stomach of anyone that annoys him. Although nearly universal today, the act of gut booting or threatening someone or something with a gut boot is solely due to him.