Marketing the Munchies "Directly to Stoners" Adam K. Raymond - The Fix
go to original July 20, 2012

From 420 calorie burritos to Taco Bell's "Fourth Meal" (the one between dinner and breakfast), fast-food companies are pushing products to addicts like never before. In fact, some stoners are getting annoyed by all the attention.

This past spring, professional skater Rob Dyrdek opened his MTV show, called “Fantasy Factory,” by taking a specialized burrito gun and trying to blow burrito-sized holes through his friends.

"We're taking over the burrito game," he shouted, after covering his office walls in guacamole. It was part reality TV in the direct lineage of the Jackass franchise, and part marketing scheme: turns out those weren’t just any burritos. They were Loud Mouth Burritos, a new line of tortilla-wrapped gruel (they come in pizza and cheeseburger flavors) developed by the entrepreneurially promiscuous Dyrdek, who is 38 years old, and his cousin Chris "Drama" Pfaff.

The stunt itself was mostly forgettable, as much of MTV’s programming is these days. And the burritos are destined to join the crowded shelves of microwaveable gas station snacks. But then a couple weeks ago, TMZ broke some interesting news about Dyrdek’s burritos: They’ll be marketed "directly to stoners." It's a remarkably blunt, if slightly risky, approach for a guy whose paychecks typically depends on teenagers' allowances and the spending money of corporate suits at Viacom.

But it also makes sense, given the longstanding overlap of three activities: watching MTV, smoking pot and chowing down on frozen burritos. Calls to Loud Mouth to confirm this strategy went unanswered, and its website makes no references to weed. But the answer is easy to find if you know where to look.

In fact, it’s right there on the back of the burrito: 420 calories.

Read more at The Fix

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