As a marketing major, I am Appalled!

On this lovely Tuesday morning, I felt the beginnings of a craving very early in the am for some delicious dunkin donuts coffee. Furthermore, after seeing the new advertisements for the dunkin donuts flatbread sandwich that boasts 250 calories and healthy egg-whites in each bite of deliciousness, I felt that today was the day that I should try this concoction.

As my car thermometer read 55 degrees, I shivered my way down the freeway to the humble town of Chantilly (25 miles outside of DC where my job resides) and scoped out the nearest dunkin donuts. Mile after mile, my desire for this low-fat breakfast treat coupled with decadent dunkin coffee grew and grew. Finally, as I pulled into the parking lot, all I could think about was which sandwich I wanted to get, or if I should just get all three at once!

When it was my turn to finally order, I looked up at the menu board and to my surprise, no flatbread sandwich options were listed! Even though all the windows were adorned with advertisements for this treat, there were no such selections present. Under the assumption that this store just did not have an opportunity yet to update their menus, I went ahead and ordered the sandwich I most craved: the cheese, ham, bacon flatbread. Yet, the reply I received was not along the lines of “would you like more cheese with that?” but instead I was told that these sandwiches were not available at this location! At first stunned, I naively replied that yes they were; I had seen commercials and voila! The advertisements all over the windows at this particular location! Yet once again, in broken English I was told that the sandwich I had longed for all morning was not available! As I stood, trying to wind my mind around this fallacy, I could hear the grumbles of the customers behind me, angry that I had not yet placed my order. Begrudgingly, I ordered my medium coffee with cream and splenda and a plain croissant, wishing that instead I had the toasty, warm, cheesy breakfast I had been dying for all morning.

Now, as any simple-minded marketing guru would know, dunkin donuts had clearly initiated a very drastic campaign to woo health mongers everywhere to partake not only in their coffee, but the food options available. The commercials obviously appealed to the younger, on-the-go crowd, looking for a healthy, quick bite to eat on their way under-paid, slave-like suit-designated occupations. Therefore, being a member of this target class, I was so appalled that the said item was not available for my consumption! The commercial in no way stipulates “available at only select locations and too bad if you’re not near one!” Dunkin Donuts clearly needs a refresher course on the P’s of marketing because clearly, their slogan “America Runs on Dunkin” is going to be changed to “America runs away from Dunkin because they don’t practice what they preach!”

Add a comment October 7, 2008