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 The new dish called "La Chingona," which can be translated most
politely as "badass" but also interpreted as a more offensive
profanity, has upset some franchise owners of the Pizza Patrón chain
who refuse to put it on their menus.
"It's a colloquial Mexican term that's used very commonly among our
core customers, which is a Mexican-born, Spanish-speaking customer,
in part of their everyday lifestyle," said Andrew Gamm, brand
director at Pizza Patrón, based in Texas and located in states with
large Hispanic populations including California, Arizona and
Florida.
The stakes are high and growing for the Latino market in places like
Texas, which has a $1.4 trillion economy and where Hispanics account
for nearly 40 percent of the population.
To stand out, Pizza Patrón has had other controversial campaigns,
including one where it allowed customers in the United States to pay
in Mexican pesos.
The "Chingona" pizza, which goes on sale on March 31, has 90 slices
of jalapeño-infused pepperoni topped with diced jalapeño peppers.
National and local Spanish-language radio stations have refused to
air the commercials, citing concerns about bad taste and potential
fines by the Federal Communications Commission.
Univision Radio, the largest U.S. Hispanic radio network, said it
will not run the ads because the name of the pizza is considered a
profanity and violates FCC regulations.
In one ad, a man asks for the new pizza at a store but is warned
only "chingones" can handle its spiciness. The customer proves his
worth by claiming he can clap with one hand, make music with the
tails of rattlesnakes and live with his mother-in-law for a month.
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Roberto Calderon, a Mexican-American studies professor at the
University of North Texas, said the pizza name, which conveys an
image of toughness, can be seen as divisive.
"Young people in particular love the phrase and don't feel offended
by it," Calderon said. "The older folks, including in the
English-speaking community, are probably going to be the most
disapproving."
Nearly 20 of the chain's 90 outlets have refused to sell the pizza.
To ease the worries of the its franchise owners, the company fiddled
with the name by calling it "La Ch!#gona" in some print ads.
"We thought we'd do a little bit of self-censorship,
tongue-in-cheek, and add the exclamation point and hashtag inside
the word," Gamm said. "But if you know the word, you can still read
it very easily."
(Reporting by Lisa Maria Garza; writing by Jon Herskovitz;
editing
by Colleen Jenkins and Eric Walsh)
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