July 29, 2006

One nation...on a grill...

In a pun-heavy press release, the Milwaukee Brewers announced the addition of a fifth tubular meat product to their traditional sausage race: Chorizo.

The puns ranged from "trying to spice things up" to the fact that the newbie would only race once this season before being sent down to the minors "for more seasoning" and it every bad spicy food joke in between. Even CBS got into the act, opening their story by saying that "[i]t could have been wurst."

The Saturday race with Chorizo's debut comes on Cerveceros Day at Miller Park as the Brewhas are paying tribute to and trying to tap the Hispanic market, throwing out stats about 4% of the Wisconson population being Hispanic (and growing, as it is in most of the nation). This is a trend that has become more and more prevelent throughout the US - marketing to an exploding Hispanic demographic.

National organizations are making this new "ethnic marketing" (I especially recommend reading the third point to find the least politically correct information there) a huge priority. Nearly every marketing agency (incluing the National Mail Order Association) is getting in on the act.

Even in MLB, it's not just the Brewers who are in on the act.

I do have a final question, though. Wouldn't you have expected "El Picante" (as his press release says is his nickname) to have tanner legs? There seems to be some sort of disconnect between his skin/casing colloration up top and down low. I'm starting to think that Chorizo might have some artificial coloring - sort of a fake grill coloration. Please note that I don't have any sort of insider information here, I'm just speculating, but I think there could be something to the question.

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