RSSCinco De Mayo Brought To You By Coors
Leave the tequila behind and head for the mountains if you want to celebrate a traditional Cinco De Mayo. We all wonder where these holidays come from, but this has to be the most narcissitic one I have seen for a long time.
If you do not have time to read the excerpts, here it goes. Coors pisses off Mexicans and is looking to find a way to get the college students to drink more beer in May. They create the Cinco de Mayo holiday even though Mexican Independence Day is in September.
Add a strong dose of marketing dollars, a little bit of hubris, and you have given the hoard of bar owners, radio DJs, and booze salesman a bonanza. If I was Mexican I would be a little bit pissed.
In the 1960s, Chicano activists in Colorado promoted a boycott of Coors beer in response to employment discrimination against Latinos at Coors breweries. Coors had two problems. They had to fix their image with Latino consumers, and they had to figure out some way to get college students to drink more beer in May. The solution: start sponsoring Cinco de Mayo! Thus, even though Mexicans in Mexico celebrate their independence day on September 15th and 16th, Mexican-Americans are more likely to celebrate the May 5th anniversary of the Battle of the Puebla, which is not even commemorated with a national holiday in Mexico. In fact, the Battle of the Puebla was a skirmish in the Pastry War, a French intervention in Mexico that began because a French chef demanded several thousand pesos to compensate him for Mexican military officers looting his pastry supply. via MetaFilter.
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8 Responses to “Cinco De Mayo Brought To You By Coors”
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cinco de mayo is indeed a national holiday in mexico
cinco de mayo is indeed a national holiday in mexico, just not independence day!
It is celebrated but as the recognition of the Battle of the Puebla, which was a skirmish in the Pastry War according to this article.
If you asked the average American they would most likely tell you it is the Mexican 4th of July. The power of marketing.
the average american will believe anything, hence the current government!
What holiday has not been skewed by commercialism?
I am waiting for Arbor Day to be the next big one pushed by marketing.
You must buy a tree … the fate of the world depends on it.
R
Oh btw #4, not just the current govt … think I can remember a WJC Admin BSing the people and telling them that an economy based on a .com ponsey scheme and corporate scandal (Tyco,Global Crossing,WorldCom,Enron,Arthur Anderson …) was the best economy ever. Yea, right.;)
#5 – I can see that already, totally surprised Al Gore didn’t jump on that….
#6. it’s Arthur Andersen (Anderson) please. Also, if a few people (6/85,000) make a mistake should all be held accountable and the other 84k plus need to find new work…. that’s what happened. Many of us used our ethics.
But as for cinco de Mayo, to find out more of the truth, you can read about it here on my blog post: http://bit.ly/cBs3Y0
stay adventurous,
Craig
Mojo, Cinco de Mayo is not a national holiday in Mexico. But I kind of agree with your statement #4 though…