'Orange Is the New Black' Food Truck Serving Up 'Tasteless' Fare as It Hits Mexico City, NY and LA?
Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black" is a huge hit and has made its mark on TV, pop culture, and social media with its strong cast and a solid representation of races and ethnicities, including a large group of Latina actresses like Dascha Polanco (Dayanara Diaz), Selenis Leyva (Gloria Mendoza), Elizabeth Rodriguez (Aleida Diaz), Diane Guerrero (Maritza Ramos), Jessica Pimentel (Maria Ruiz), Barbara Rosenblat (Miss Rosa,) Laura Gómez (Blanca Flores) and Jackie Cruz (Flaca Gonzales).
Based on the memoir by Piper Kerman, "Orange Is the New Black" "details the lives of women in prison, shedding light on neglected issues in the jail system in the perspectives of whites, blacks, Latinas, transgenders, and other groups."
While the show has been praised for its unflinching portrayal of these prisoners' lives, some critics are saying that the show recently made a poor judgment call with their latest marketing campaign, an "Orange Is the New Black"-themed food truck that has hit Mexico City and New York City and is on its way to Los Angeles.
The traveling food truck gives out free fruit-filled hand pies called "Crazy Pyes" named after prisoner Suzanne 'Crazy Eyes' Warren (Uzo Aduba), who is "an inmate with social development issues who becomes emotionally attached to those who are close to her." "Crazy Eyes" is known for her antics in the prison and the cafeteria, throwing pies at her "prison wife," Piper Chapman (Taylor Shilling).
In addition to the fruit-filled hand pies, the "Orange is the New Black" food truck also gives out chocolate-and-vanilla swirled ice cream, referring to "Crazy Eyes'" desire to have an interracial relationship with Piper. She is also known to sing her infamous line: "Chocolate and vanilla swi-irl...swi-irl."
Whether Netflix's culinary marketing spin has truly left a bad taste in the fans' mouths is debatable, because New Yorkers embraced the "Orange Is the New Black" food truck, which was captured on its Twitter page.
If you visit our #CrazyPyes truck in NYC today make sure to tweet us your photos! #OITNB pic.twitter.com/r68ChDvXpL
— Orange Is the New... (@OITNB) June 14, 2014
"But if 'Orange is the New Black' the show takes pains to treat its prisoners' plights with respect and human empathy, 'Orange is the New Black' the marketing phenomenon takes prison as a big joke," wrote Salon.
LA Weekly calls the food truck "confusing" and "unappetizing" and refers to the connection with "Crazy Pyes" as "sketchy."
Prison isn't a "big joke," it's real and it's raw, but the show looks at the situation through many different sets of eyes and experiences with strong character development. The show will continue to stand strong regardless of any PR campaign, and Netflix has proven it can contend with the TV world with its live-streaming and different approach.
Highlighting a person who essentially has "social developmental issues," and making a comical spin-off of their character could be considered "tasteless" from an outsider's prespective. But looking at the big picture, the show is also a "dramedy," fusing drama with humor where all of the characters have their own set of issues and baggage, therefore any character featured on the food truck could be taken in the wrong way.
When it comes to race or interracial relationships, I can understand how the chocolate-and-vanilla swirled ice cream could be seen as offensive, but in this case, I don't think it was meant to be purposely malicious but tied in with the character. It is tacky as is the "Crazy Pyes," but "Orange is the New Black" fans seem to get it.
I have spoken with loyal "Orange is the New Black" fans from different races and ethnic backgrounds and they are not offended by the "Crazy Pyes" or the chocolate-and-vanilla swirled ice cream brought forth from the food truck. Instead, they look at it as a tongue-in-cheek PR spin-off and a different way to promote the show. It has gotten fans, the media and the general public's attention, meaning the Netflix PR team did their job.
In addition to the food truck, there is also a cookbook offering recipes for meals, snacks, desserts and drinks inspired by the popular Netflix TV series called "Orange Is the New Black: The Cookbook, Bites, Booze, Secrets, and Stories from Inside the Big House" (Abrams Books), set to debut this fall.
The official "Orange Is the New Black" Twitter account has previously tweeted recipes for dishes like Prison Pasteles (corn chips, processed cheese, beef jerky and water); Correctional Cheesecake (coffee creamer, graham crackers, pudding and cheese); Cell Caramel Lattes (milk, instant coffee and caramel candy); Prison Pad Thai (ramen, peanut butter, peanuts and hot sauce); and more.
Regardless of the food truck and the cookbook, "Orange Is the New Black" is on board with the show's mission. Dominican actress Dascha Polanco from Brooklyn, New York, who plays the "good girl Latina" who is in jail with her mother, told Cosmo Latina:
"In my opinion the whole message is it allows women from all different ethnicities to show their talent. There's a lot of the neglected issues that are going on in women's prisons today. What people are going to take away is that these are women a lot of people can relate to. The fans can identify physically, mentally and culturally," Polanco said.