Just Desserts 2008-04-01

Where Pig Is Big…

The High Life Lounge and El Bait Shop in Des Moines, IA, sure knows how to keep National Pig Day (March 1, as if you didn't know) in its heart as well as on its menu. The local dive recently hosted a Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival on the special day, complete with a special menu featuring bacon cheeseburgers, as well as just about anything you could wrap a bacon around (shrimp, jalapeno peppers, Tater Tots…). For dessert, there was a specially created maple bacon cheesecake with Templeton Rye whiskey glaze.

The event also featured a bacon eating contest, bacon tastings, a bacon lecture for intellectual content, prize drawings and an appearance by “Mr. Bacon Pants,” a bacon blogger from Pittsburgh whose recap of the event can be found at www.mrbaconpants.com.

Chicago may be hog butcher to the world, but, at least for a day, Des Moines was hog heaven.

Put a Bunny in Your Tank

The latest entry into the energy drink category comes with a double entendre. Playboy Energy Drink from Playboy Beverages is set to debut in March 2008 in regular and sugar-free versions. Yes, it will come with the (im)famous bow-tied bunny logo.

Just Desserts wonders though whether there won't be an age demographic snag in the marketing. Playboy's fusty pipe-and-slippers soft-porn image plays better with older guys, which is not the prime energy drink market.

On the other hand, it is the older crowd that's more insecure about “energy levels.” So look for a Cialis-like ad campaign with aluminum cans substituted for blue pills and smirking middle-aged guys draped in full-length blonde talking about how “refreshed” and “energized” they feel after chugging a can of Playboy.

Bulk Mail

Australia's postal service has begun recruiting larger mail carriers, reports Reuters. The service had previously set 90 kgs. (198 lbs.) as its weight limit for carriers because of load restrictions on the motorcycles they use in making their deliveries.

The limit has made recruiting increasingly difficult because, as in the U.S., the Aussie population is supersizing. That means fewer sub-200-pounders in the recruiting pool.

After recent talks with the cycle manufacturer (Honda), the postal service has bumped up the carrier weight limit to a more realistic 105 kgs. (around 230 lbs.) while reducing the amount of mail they carry from 40 to 25 kgs.

Suggested new slogan: “Your Postal Service, now with more mailman and less mail…”

The illustrations for FM's Just Desserts column are by Dave Clark. You can see more of his work at Clarktoons.