A few people wrote me and either couldn't believe that someone would put ketchup on their chicken wings. It happens. It's wrong, but it happens. And then I saw this:
I was at a diner the other day and was looking at the Heinz ketchup bottle on the table. Then I flipped it over:
"Spice up your chicken wings ... with Heinz Ketchup!" SPICE UP YOUR CHICKEN WINGS WITH KETCHUP!?!?!? WTF?! #wingcrime
This is not right. First off, Ketchup is not spicy. If anything it's sweet. In fact, 'spices' is the last ingredient on the bottle, and I think they might just mean black pepper. To say you are going to spice up chicken wings with ketchup is just a plain lie.
Second, ketchup does not belong on nuggets, ribs, rice, pasta, or fajitas. Who puts ketchup on rice? I get burgers or fries or meatloaf. I could even let ribs slip if ketchup was in the BBQ sauce, but fajitas? C'mon.
So recap, ketchup has it's place in the world, but not chicken wings.
So about a month ago I sampled and reviewed Wendy's Boneless Wings. Bold Buffalo, if you will. And I wasn't too impressed. Too sweet for my liking. And I was fine to leave it at that.
I like Wendy's in general. I turned and looked the other way when they started their new ad campaign of Waaaaay Better. Sure I found their tagline of "It's better than fast food, it's Wendy's" when we all know, its still fast food. But recently a new commercial came out and I can bite my tongue no longer.
Please note, I couldn't find this commercial on the net, so I had to resort to taping it on my digital camera from the TV. Please excuse the crappy quality of image and sound. But you will get the gist.
"At some restaurants when you get boneless wings, what are you really paying for?"
That is what the announcer states as the over-the-top waiter passes the establishments Cocktail bartender, flat screen tv's, people singing happy birthday etc etc etc.
My biggest problem I have with the commercial is how is skews reality. My big beef, is the chicken. When I get boneless wings at a restaurant, yes I may be paying twice as much (keeping in mind Wendy's entree is $4.99, about 1/2 what one pays in a restaurant) but I get full size chicken tenders/fingers. Wendy's gives you chicken nuggets. Yes you pay less, but you get less too.
The most I have paid for boneless wings is probably $11.99, which came with some sort of side. At Lonestar you get free chips and salsa before you even order boneless wings. And yes my price may be higher to pay for flat screen tv's, decorations, people singing and "flair", but people go to those places TO HAVE someone serve you at your table, with a smile, or a song on your special day.
Well if you think I'm crazy about this, I'm not alone. Over at the website "Commercials I Hate", people are slagging the ad:
"Ah yes Wendy's, because your boneless wings and boneless wings from a sit down restaurant are exactly the same. NOT. My husband has had these "wings", and they just look like pieces of chicken strips that fell off other chicken strips. I'm tired of fast food trying to act like it's every bit as good as a sit down restaurant, because they simply aren't."
"My mom suggested marketing something called "Boneless Cubes" "
"There's a wing bar around here that has loads of TVs on the wall, live music on weekends, trivia games on wednesdays, and like 15 different sauces. And their portions are awesome. So yes, I will gladly pay extra for that "flair" (and a beer) and enjoy my dining experience, as opposed to paying $4 for ten cents worth of sauce on two bucks worth of chicken nuggets eaten in a booth that smells vaugely of bleached urine."
"What I don't get is why Wendy's keeps using it's low budget Fast-Food-quality service and atmosphere as a selling point-it's like, are you saying that I should eat at your restauraunt because you DON'T serve gourmet food and because your restaurant is boring and the waiters are assholes?
if an extra $2 at a sit-down restaurant means my waiter is going to be nice to me, then I'm okay with spending it-if i'm going to eat out, I would hope it's a pleasant experience, and a mean waiter kills that hope..."
I understand that the neighbourhood grill type restaurants can be plastic, cookie-cutter, and fake. BUT SO IS A FAST FOOD OUTLET LIKE WENDY'S, and I don't even get table service. It's one thing to try and claim your better than your fast food competitors, but why attack a superior venue? WHY?
Have you seen this commercial? Does it bug you? Let me know! Comment today!
