Associating Your Restaurant With a Suicide Cult? Bad Idea.

By Anthony Todd in Food on Feb 22, 2011 5:20PM

Let's say you want to make your restaurant stand out. You could serve great food, lower your prices, or hire a new chef. Or, if you're La Senorita, a Northern Indiana restaurant group, you could create a series of billboards that reference the most famous mass suicide in modern history. More than 900 people died by drinking poison in the 1978 Jonestown disaster, so it's only logical that it could be used to sell drinks. Check out a picture of the billboard at the Lansing State Journal.

According to the Huffington Post, "the billboards included the statement, "We're like a cult with better Kool-Aid," over a glass containing a mixed drink, as well as the phrase "To die for!" After two weeks, the billboards were pulled. Restaurant marketing folks acknowledge that the move was a mistake, and said that they didn't want to be controversial. "We want to be noticed," said Jeff Leslie, VP of sales and marketing. Well, they definitely achieved that goal. They even focus-group tested the billboard, but, according to Leslie, "sometimes focus groups fail."