Wheat Ridge-based Qdoba is poking fun at the brown-bag lunch crowd with an ad campaign that’s drawing decidedly mixed reviews.
Qdoba’s “Sad Packer” campaign makes fun of people who take lunch to the office and invites them to try a $6.99 meal instead.
Along with radio ads, which ask listeners if they stink up briefcases or eat alone, an e-mail was also sent. The text e-mail was written as if it were from an office manager and asks workers to clean out the stinky refrigerator. It then promotes the $6.99 meal at Qdoba.
“We intentionally take a tongue-in-cheek approach,” said David Craven, director of marketing for the chain. “We wanted to inject some levity into the market because of everything being so gloomy.”
Edgy campaigns often offend consumers, and this one is no different, said Bob Mazerov, president of Mazerov Group, a marketing strategy and marketing execution firm.
“We have become an advertising society that is quick to substitute milquetoast communications for fear of making a creative point,” he said.
Krista Rogers of Littleton is taking her business to Chipotle instead. “Shame on them for portraying people who don’t have the time to go out to lunch or who prefer to bring their lunch as losers,” she said.
For John Bergfeld, who lives in St. Louis, the e-mail component of the campaign got him to try Qdoba. “It really made me feel like I did not want to eat the lunch that I brought from home,” he said.
Elizabeth Aguilera: 303-954-1372 or eaguilera@denverpost.com
