Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Insulting and Irritating

I'm not the intended audience, but this hiring campaign at one of my local Taco Bell restaurant's insults the intelligence of anyone who sees it. What, if any, result could it have as its intended purpose, which is to hire workers?

First, I saw this poster on the outer door:


Riiiiight. The work at a fast-food restaurant is almost so much fun that workers would pay to be there. They're playing pan guitar constantly in the kitchen. I believe that. The reality is, it's not clever to imply work doesn't need to be paid if it's fun enough. Especially when it's not fun.

The next poster is just...


I can't even grok the depth of stupidity that would lead someone to think it was witty to say you can be trained to have fun. And the photo grasps at a way to illustrate fun, while infantilizing the model (and by implication the employees) at the same time.


This one is less weird, but the overly friendly looks on the two models' faces are so artificial (especially the woman). But I admit, if it weren't for the two posters, this cutout wouldn't have caught my attention.

Meanwhile, who is actually working at this Taco Bell? What does it seem like to work there?


Three youngish black men and a Latino (the other three are working the drive through and in the kitchen). It looks like any other fast food restaurant you'd ever see. No one having any particular fun, just doing their jobs.

Again, I wonder, how did this campaign get done? Who thought it was a good idea? Will anyone who wants a fast-food job believe its message?

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