Dallas-based pizza chain, Pizza Patrón, has made a business of catering to particular patrons... Mexican immigrants, who happen to be the restaurant's core customer base. In an effort to better connect with this community, the establishment launched a new promotion that employs a Mexican slang term that means "super cool" to some, while others find the term deeply offensive. Pizza Patrón's limited time offer, an extra-spicy pizza that boasts jalapeño encrusted pepperoni, topped with even more jalapeño, is being called La Chingona.

The radio advertisement created to draw customers, depicts a customer walking into the Mexican-friendly establishment, requesting "pizza chingona." The customer is told that it's only for chingones. To prove himself worthy of the zesty creation, he must demonstrate his chingon-ness: he does this by making music with the rattles of rattle snakes, clapping his hands, and by opting to live with his mother-in-law for one month.

Depending on your age and origin, chingona may mean something different, thus it evokes different reactions from different people. Reaching beyond English to access the mounting multilingual population means that advertisers will regularly borrow terms that they don't necessarily have a full grasp of, potentially offending people.

Shereen Marisol Meraji of NPR interviewed professors in the Spanish department at the University of Southern California to uncover their take on the term "pizza chingona." Sarah Portnoy, teacher of Hispanic culinary culture, stated that she would translate the phrase to mean "bad-ass pizza." She then went on to say that it isn't a word that one would use in front of their mother.

"It's not a word I'd use in front of my mother-in-law. It's a word that my 20-something nieces and nephews use among themselves," said Portnoy.

Consuelo Siguenza-Ortiz, a Mexican American who describes herself "on the tail end of the Baby Boomers," expressed her outrage in regards to the campaign. Siguenza-Ortiz explained the verb that chingon, chingona and chingones all derived from a word that is equivalent to the F-word, and stated that it was vulgar.    

Natalia Perez, Portnoy and Siguenza-Ortiz's younger colleague, disagreed. She stated that the way that Pizza Patrón used the term was not at all vulgar.

"I'm from Mexico and in the '90s we always used that word to mean cool... I don't know, I just don't feel that it's that horrible," said Perez.

Meraji also spoke to Laura Martínez of Mi Blog Es Tu Blog, who monitors Spanish-language media marketing. Martínez wrote that she believes that Spanish-language media's refusal to air Pizza Patrón's advertisements is hypocrisy, considering that they happily air hyper-sexual and violent content, along with language that she finds to be much more offensive.

"As a Mexican consumer, I think it's funny that a commercial would say 'esta pizza es para chingones,' it means you're really tough, really cool, you're above everybody else. It's not even a bad word," Martínez said.

Edgar Padilla, the corporate marketing manager for the Dallas-based Pizza Patrón chain, was also contacted by Meraji. Padilla stated that the campaign was aimed at blue-collar, Mexican immigrants, who prefer to speak Spanish and make less than $50,000 annually.

"We use it a lot in Mexico. 'It's amazing! Somebody's cool, somebody's great!'" the marketing manager stated.

Seventy percent of the chain is in Texas, predominately in majority Hispanic areas. Employees of the restaurant must be bilingual, and should be fluent in not only Spanish but Mexican culture -- and effectively able to use Mexican Spanish over other variations of the language.

CBS and Univision radio are unwilling to air the promotion for the new pizza, and were unwilling to bleep out the occasionally profane word. Stations fear a run-in with FCC if they allow for the use of profanity over airwaves -- that applies even to NPR.

The pizza company also stirred up controversy a few years back when they allowed customers to purchase pizza with Mexican pesos, and with another promotion that granted free pepperoni pizza to those who ordered in Spanish. That promotion was met with counter-campaigns that demanded that endorsers for the promotion "go back to [their] home countries." The "pizza for pesos" campaign showed a 34 percent increase in business, and the "pizza por favor" campaign showed a 12 percent increase. La Chingona is expected to do the same. 

The company's site is available in English and Spanish, and can be accessed by clicking "Por Los Gringos" or "Por La Raza." And, on there, the following message addresses the pizza: 

Pizza Patrón Censored for Speaking 'Mexican'

New ads too 'chingón' for many Spanish radio networks

Pizza Patrón, the Dallas-based pizza chain, was informed that the company's new advertising campaign would not be permitted to air on a number of major radio networks. The decision came just weeks ahead of the radio spots planned premiere on Monday, March 31.

The Spanish language ads feature different personalities who expound why they are 'chingón' enough to try the company's spicy new LTO pizza named La Ch!#gona. Richards/Lerma, the Dallas-based Hispanic branding and creative agency, was hired by Pizza Patrón and charged with the task of creating spots that speak 'Mexican' to the brand's core Mexican-born customer base.

Aldo Quevedo, principal and creative director for Richards/Lerma defended the strategy behind the ads saying, "Mexican slang and humor are very particular, and we applaud Pizza Patrón for connecting with their core consumers at a very deep level, avoiding stereotypes. The brand speaks the same way they do, I mean, WE do!"

"The decision to ban the spots over the name La Ch!#gona doesn't make much sense to us," stated Andrew Gamm, brand director for Pizza Patrón. "We are being selectively censored to protect the Mexican listeners from so-called potentially 'offensive' language. These same networks regularly feature songs and talk-show dialogue that is much more risqué than anything we are doing."

According to Real Academia Española, the official royal institution responsible for overseeing the Spanish language, the definition of the word 'chingón' is defined as follows: chingón, na. 1. adj. street slang. Méx. "Said of a person who is competent in an activity or knowledgeable in a specific area."

Edgar Padilla, marketing manager for Pizza Patrón and the creative mind behind the La Ch!#gona campaign said "colloquialism," "picardía" (street-wise humor) and "censorship" are common traits in Mexican culture. "These same characteristics are essential to the foundation of our campaign whose objective is to speak directly to our customer's heart. We understand and know who we are targeting and make no excuses -- Pizza Patrón is a brand for La Raza (the people)."

The product, La Ch!#gona, is a large pizza with approximately 90 slices of proprietary jalapeño stuffed pepperonis topped with fresh, diced jalapeños. Available for a limited time only, the pizza has a recommended price of $7.99. Prices and availability may vary by market.