The three radio ads promote the fast food chain's team-up with fellow Colorado food legend Santiagos to generously smothered menu for green chili season.
In one ad, the chili prompts Marin to ask Chong if he would want to scorch a few buds over a nicely rolled fatty. Scorched taste buds and a fatty burrito, that is.
Boyd Hobak, president and CEO of Good Times, says the move sounded dicey at first, but he adds that he signed on because he feels the Cheech and Chongs appeal has less to do with marijuana than with "good times" in general. He also stressed that the two aren't spokesmen for the company. Rather, these are just a series of one-off ads.Hobak admits that Good Times "originally questioned whether Cheech & Chong are relevant to our customer base, but they are gaining new traction and affinity, particularly with the millennial crowd, having appeared on The Simpsons, That '70s Show and a national comedy tour."
I don't know about you, but when I think of Cheech and Chong, my first thoughts are rarely, "Oh, those guys from The Simpsons," or "Yeah, the stoned dude from That '70s Show." We're talking about Cheech and Chong here; everyone knows their gig.
Hobak tells me the ads are in no way meant to imply that Good Times is sponsoring medical marijuana -- although he admits they might unintentionally convince a few medical marijuana patients to try some green chili smothered fries. "We are aligning our brand communications under the theme of 'Happiness Made to Order,'" he says. "Using Cheech & Chong is a fun, tongue-in-cheek way to bring that to life and not take ourselves too seriously."
The ads run now through the end of November. Listen to them here.
More from our Marijuana archive: "Medical marijuana: Top 10 medicated edibles in Colorado."
