SHAME On Del Taco!

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Yesterday, I was out and about with my two daughters, mid-afternoon, and they had the after-school munchies, so we stopped at the first fast-food haunt we saw – Del Taco. We order, pay, and drive off. Ten seconds later, my 11-year-old in the back seat asks, “Mom, what does ‘I bagged a hottie’ mean?”

Come again, sweet little girl who shouldn’t be saying such things?!

She handed me the bag that contained all our food, and printed in BIG, bold letters on the Del Taco bag, it said, “I bagged a hottie.” Oh . . . I get it. Del Taco must have just launched a new advertising campaign. Well, aren’t they clever?? I was so impressed by their wit. My daughters and I laughed all the way home.

Um, I don't think so.

What is wrong with you, Del Taco?! Are you telling me that there is not ONE parent in corporate headquarters or at that thoughtless advertising agency that came up with this campaign who might have thought: “Hmmmm . . . maybe this campaign isn’t real appropriate for families who have young children.”

Unless your marketing department decided that hungry mothers and children aren’t in your target demographic group, then you have made a huge mistake taking this recent ad campaign of yours public.

Imagine how uncomfortable I felt, as a mom, trying to explain to my daughter what “bagging a hottie” meant. What’s next, “Eat My Taco”? Or “Lick My Hot Sauce.” Or perhaps you might consider selling hot dogs so you can emblazon your bags and wrappers with, “Grab A Weenie.”

I am pleading with all moms in the blogosphere to put pressure on Del Taco to yank this shameful ad campaign and put every single brown paper bag printed with “I Bagged A Hottie” right where they belong . . . in the trash!

And they may want to dispose of their advertising agency while they’re at it, too.

Sticker Shock

You recognize these car stickers, don't you? For some bizarre reason, motorists feel compelled to let everyone know how many kids and pets they have, and what all their names are, too. Yeah, they provide some light entertainment when you're stuck behind that mini van at a long light. Come to think of it, I'd like to see Octo Mom's custom decal showing off her 14 children. Not sure the back window would be wide enough, though.

Normally, I don't pay any attention to these decals, but one did catch my eye the other day. The stick-figure lineup included a man with HUGE muscles, a woman next to him, a little girl and a dog. What made this particular decal so different is that there was a HUGE red "X" over the mom. Get it? Dad, the driver, is divorced, and judging by his shameless promotion of it, he couldn't be happier.

As a divorced single mother, I thought it was tacky and lacked sensitivity to how his daughter might be feeling. I'm sure she doesn't like riding around in a car that is advertising the fact that her mom is out of the picture. She must be embarrassed and hurt by that. What's that saying from Dr. Phil? "Saying bad things about your ex in front of your children is like attacking their DNA." I wondered if she thought that maybe her father might "X" her out of his life someday, too.

Anyway, I tried to take a picture of it for you all because I heard that's what the really good bloggers do. And I did, with my cell phone. But I forgot to click save before I shut the camera off and when I got home to retrieve the picture, it had been deleted. And of course the mini van was long gone by then, parked somewhere in the driveway of Happy Bachelor Land. So the generic photo above will have to suffice.

Sorry. I'll know better next time I'm out and about as a roving blogger.

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