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Judi Lynn

(160,621 posts)
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 05:46 PM Feb 2015

McDonald's eats its words after tamales Facebook ad sparks backlash in Mexico

Source: Guardian

McDonald's eats its words after tamales Facebook ad sparks backlash in Mexico

Ad posted in Spanish says ‘tamales are a thing of the past’ and touts the McBurrito one day after a holiday typically celebrated with the traditional food

Nicky Woolf in New York
Wednesday 4 February 2015 15.28 EST


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Tamales: a thing of the past, says McDonald’s. Photograph: Carlos Tischler/REX
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February 2 is la Día de la Candelaria in Mexico, a religious holiday celebrated with parties, dancing and processions. It is also often celebrated with tamales, the traditional snack made from corn dough sometimes stuffed with meat or vegetables, wrapped in a leaf and steamed.

Tamales, which have been eaten here for seven millennia or more, are beloved fare in Mexico, even on days that aren’t festivals which specifically celebrate them. Which makes it all the stranger that fast food giant McDonald’s chose the day after the tamale festival to go to war with the humble snack.

“Tamales are a thing of the past,” read an advert posted in Spanish on Tuesday to the Facebook page for McDonald’s Mexico which has more than 55m “likes”. “McBurrito Mexicana also comes wrapped.” Accompanying the text was a picture of the menu item.

The post caused immediate uproar on social media.

One user summed up the situation: “Look @McDonaldsMexico, if you mess with tamales, you mess with everyone! Get a grip or you’ll get your ass kicked!!”




Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/04/mcdonalds-mexico-facebook-ad-tamales

12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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McDonald's eats its words after tamales Facebook ad sparks backlash in Mexico (Original Post) Judi Lynn Feb 2015 OP
I'd choose a tamale over anything on their menu just about any day. alphafemale Feb 2015 #1
Word Populist_Prole Feb 2015 #4
I'm going to have to ... sendero Feb 2015 #11
talk about insulting your customers Mosby Feb 2015 #2
My daughter lived with a family in Mexico City murielm99 Feb 2015 #3
Unmitigated GALL! Cirque du So-What Feb 2015 #5
O.M.G. Adsos Letter Feb 2015 #6
Having a tamale vs having something from McDonald's? Botany Feb 2015 #7
"who wants to eat chimichangas next year? NOT me" MisterP Feb 2015 #8
I haven't eaten that garbage in nearly ten years... Earth_First Feb 2015 #9
I'd take the worst tamale on the planet christx30 Feb 2015 #10
That's crazy talk. Tamales beat anything Mickey D's wants to sell. They're what I miss most here... freshwest Feb 2015 #12
 

alphafemale

(18,497 posts)
1. I'd choose a tamale over anything on their menu just about any day.
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 05:50 PM
Feb 2015

Especially the seasoned pork ones.

Yum!

sendero

(28,552 posts)
11. I'm going to have to ...
Thu Feb 5, 2015, 11:52 AM
Feb 2015

... second that emotion with a a big hell yeah.

It amazes me that McD is so stupid.

Mosby

(16,350 posts)
2. talk about insulting your customers
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 06:14 PM
Feb 2015

what the hell were they thinking?

Not only are tamales hugely popular in South America but they are really popular in the South West and trending up right now, even Circle K is getting in on the tamale action.

murielm99

(30,761 posts)
3. My daughter lived with a family in Mexico City
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 06:22 PM
Feb 2015

when she was going to summer school. They were a middle class urban family. She still stays in touch with them.

They seldom ate traditional Mexican fare. The mom told her stories about how her father would make tamales and tacos on Sundays, after they came home from Mass. The woman's father died during the time my daughter was living there. Her family got together in the kitchen and made tamales from scratch, to remember grandpa and to help their mother with her grief. I thought it was a nice family gesture.

I will take any traditional food over McDonalds any day. McDonalds is out of touch! Maybe that is why their sales and profits are slumping right now.

Cirque du So-What

(25,977 posts)
5. Unmitigated GALL!
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 06:27 PM
Feb 2015

To think that some marketing flack got paid good money to insult others' culture, then upper management - who get paid even more - signed off on this harebrained idea.

Adsos Letter

(19,459 posts)
6. O.M.G.
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 06:53 PM
Feb 2015

Every once in a while one of my wife's coworkers brings her pans of homemade tamales.

Heaven descends to our supper table on those evenings.

Botany

(70,581 posts)
7. Having a tamale vs having something from McDonald's?
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 11:26 PM
Feb 2015


In N Columbus, OH we have a little taco truck that has home made tamales
every friday and saturday and they get sold out everytime because they
are so good.

Earth_First

(14,910 posts)
9. I haven't eaten that garbage in nearly ten years...
Thu Feb 5, 2015, 11:08 AM
Feb 2015

...I haven't eaten most of the food in that industry in nearly as many years.

This vindicates not only a health-related aspect to avoiding this industry, additionally a socially conscious decision to avoid these behemoth 'food' industries.

Thankfully I can recognize that I am privileged enough to afford making this decision, for some it's not so easy...

christx30

(6,241 posts)
10. I'd take the worst tamale on the planet
Thu Feb 5, 2015, 11:41 AM
Feb 2015

over the best thing on the McDonald's menu.

"A thing of the past"? Yep. As in, this past weekend. Wife and her friend made tamales. Mucho gusto.

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