Ishbadiddle: Hillel Hawks Snacks

Hillel Hawks Snacks

So there's this ad campaign for Doritos™ now. It starts with people all over Unspecified City, all getting text messages on their cell phones reading "INNW?". Then they run around. Then a whole bunch of them end up in Unspecified City Square. A giant bag of Doritos™ is on a billboard. They all look up at it. They look like extras in the video for "We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)". Then they all jump at the same time, causing the giant bag of Doritos™ to fall to the ground, like manna, where presumably it will be consumed by the cell-phone wielding masses.

So what's up with that INNW acronym? And why does the whole thing look like an ad for, well, cell phones? Apparently they're trying to create a new txt msg slang, and cash in on this "new" lingo. The INNW site is written in badly done txt msg speak. And INNW stands for "If Not Now, When?"

I suppose the merry marketeers over at Frito-Lay are trying to create a "Just Do It" style phrase. However, my first thought was, why are they quoting Hillel? You know, the first-century BCE scholar who most famously asked, "If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?" I've always thought that the phrase summarized Judaism's call to action: one must look out for oneself, because if you don't, who else will? But at the same time, one must always help others, because if you don't, then who else will? And finally, you have to act today.

So it's a odd, really, to see Hillel quoted in an ad campaign. Is anyone at Frito-Lay, or their advertising firm, Jewish? This is a bit like trying to use "WWJD" to sell soda. It's not really offensive, it's just sort of -- weird. Perhaps you'll see this on a future bag of Doritos™:

Star of David made of Doritos