Pizza Patron catches flak for promotion

I’m speechless about this, so I’m turning it over to the Tumblr community for commentary.

What’s better than a piping hot pepperoni pizza? One you don’t have to pay for. All you have to do is say three words; “Pizza por favor.”

Jehovani Cardoso, a Pizza Patron manager, said, “It’s a really good campaign. It’s kind of like a customer appreciation day.”

He says his customers think it’s a great idea to give away a pizza for free if you order in Spanish.

“It’s so racist. It’s rude. It’s disrespectful, I think, to the Hispanic Community, to insinuate that they need to call and order their pizza in Spanish only,” said author and Tea Party activist, Lisa Fritsch. “Imagine if they did this to the black community. Anybody who can speak “jive” can get a free piece of chicken. Can you imagine the outrage?”

Pizza Patron reps say 70 percent of their customers are Spanish speaking.

“It’s a little bit tacky,” added Fritsch. “White people, black people, yellow people, we all eat pizza. I don’t think it was a good tactic for them long term. I think it was a bad idea.”

“I wouldn’t see it like it’s not fair for people who can’t speak Spanish because we will be helping them if they can’t say it,” said Cardoso.

The consumers will be making the final decision.

“Some things are not fair for Spanish speakers, so this is a good thing for them,” said customer Leroy Barriga.

“If you live in America you can speak any language you want. In this part of the world there’s a lot of people that speak Spanish, so I don’t know why people would have a problem with that,” said another customer, Brandis Stockman.

Pizza Patron is no stranger to controversial promotions. In 2007 they started accepting Mexican pesos and still do.

Pizza lovers who stop by one of the three locations in Austin on June 5, between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., won’t have to use either form of payment.