“Chorizo represents growing Latino population in Wisconsin”

That’s what the headline reads and the picture really speaks for itself.

Chorizo, a spicy pork sausage, signed a contract and was presented with a jersey reading “Cerveceros” across the front during Thursday’s mock press conference, an affair stuffed with so many food references it left you with a stomach ache. But this was also serious business.

According to a recent Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel report on immigration, quoting U.S. Census Bureau figures, Wisconsin’s Hispanic population grew by 23 percent from 2000 to 2004 and accounted for 4.3% of the state’s population of around 5.5 million in 2004. The Hispanic population grew by at least 1,000 in nine state counties, including by 14,647 in Milwaukee County.

So adding Chorizo to the lineup of racially stereotyped sausage mascots was the Brewers way of showing this burgeoning population some inclusion. Other ways included translating the team’s name into Spanish (cerveceros) and emblazoning it on jerseys.

This pretty much breaks most of my rules for reaching out to Latinos in a respectful manner. The sausage is wearing a massive sombrero, has a fat moustache and is, well, a sausage. I wonder how many Venezuelans or Puerto Ricans see themselves reflected in Mr. Chorizo? Oh, I forgot, Latinos are a homogenous mass with no cultural identity to speak of between countries. Gimme a break. The only thing that is semi-comforting is that the rest of the nationalities represented in the various sausage mascots that came before Chorizo — Polish, Italian, German — are treated with equal amounts of disregard for cultural sensitivity.

Update: Apparently not everyone is happy about Chorizo…notably MLB’s marketing team. It was fun while it lasted.
Via / ABC News

Because let’s be honest, that’s all they are. I’m not going to give the latest McDonald’s World Cup campaign any more credit than it deserves.

For the uninitiated, I’m talking about this:

I stumbled across it on the the page of one of my Flickr contacts in Monterrey, Mexico (thanks, Oscar!). It seems that McDonald’s has found a “creative” way to capitalize on the fever of the World Cup in Mexico. Oscar brings up the question of overbranding. Indeed, this is a bit much for me.

Beyond the ball bun, McDonald’s has also set up a web site for the Mexico market dedicated exclusively to the World Cup: McDonaldsFutbol.com.mx upon which it declares itself the “official hamburger of the Mexican soccer team”. Yawn. As much as a fan I am of la selección mexicana, that’s not going to win me over to Micky D’s. Incidentally, they are also the “Official Restaurant” for the Mexican team? Well, in that case…

In the UK, here’s the brilliant stuff McDonald’s has been dreaming up — a HUGE hamburger (I guess the size of the Cup itself) in honor of the FIFA World Cup:

Fast food chain McDonalds is to launch a special World Cup burger that is bigger than a Big Mac.

The restaurant is to sell the sandwiches, which are 40% bigger than its biggest current burger, over a six-week period.

They will pack a belt-busting 669 calories.

The move has prompted outrage from health campaigners.

Just what the doctor ordered. And stateside? Is McDonald’s trying any World Cup related schemes here? According to the NYT, only to the Latino market:

Like Anheuser-Busch, McDonald’s views the World Cup mainly as an opportunity to sell itself outside the United States. It is heavily promoting its sponsorship in McDonald’s franchises in Europe and Latin America. But it is also running a promotion in restaurants in the United States with a Hispanic clientele.