La Salsa Spots Serve Up Unseemly Humor

Advertiser: La Salsa restaurants

Agency: Band of Gypsies, Los Angeles

Challenge: Point out what distinguishes La Salsa from other Mexican fast-food restaurants--fresh food--in a memorable way.

The Ad: A farmer stops his young son from picking a “baby tomato” because it needs to grow into a lucky “mommy tomato.” When the boy asks if the tomato will “live happily ever after,” Dad delights in telling him it will be “chopped up, sliced, cut up and served fresh in the salsa.” The tomato’s fate alarms the boy, so Dad soothingly puts his arm around the child and attempts to change the subject. “Hey,” he says. “Let’s go look at the lucky chickens.”

Comment: La Salsa needs to get consumers’ attention on a smaller ad budget than many competitors. This ad does that. But, while sadistic humor works in some TV commercials, it is off-putting when used in the context of a father and a young son.

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