Here's What Happens When You Name A Pizza After "El Chapo" Guzmán

A pizza chain in Belgium released named one of their pies after the infamous drug trafficker “El Chapo” Guzmán, causing an understandable uproar with their Mexican clientele on social media.

The publicity campaign for the pizza utilized several cliché Mexican elements, such as a cactus, Day of the Dead skulls and even the likeness of “El Chapo” himself along with a slogan that includes the ironically not Mexican at all phrase “Aye Caramba!”

The ingredients of the pizza also a feast of Mexican clichés, some not even Mexican at all: jalapeños, corn, ground meat, chili, nachos, and beans.

The pizza chain in Belgium promoted their unsavory product with a slogan that included: “Are you ready for some Mexican audacity? Aye Caramba!” The promotional of the “Chapopizza” used elements of the narco culture in the posters (photo: Facebook).

Of course, reactions on social media surfaced immediately and were polarized, as the went from taking it as a joke to outrage. Some Facebook pages even held out polls to see how people reacted to the pizza’s name.

One Facebook user pointed out: “Of everything Mexico has to offer, you decided to use the worst side of the country to promote your product.”

The name “El Chapo” has been a registered trademark in Mexico since 2011, and it has been used in everything from games, toys, Christmas decorations, gym items, jewelry, and leather, among others. It is unknown if the pizza chain purchased the rights.

Even though the company does not use the exact image of the drug lord for its campaign, just some kind of sketch with his likeness, the paper tablecloths in the restaurant did explain who is “El Chapo”, referring to his history as a drug trafficker in Mexico and the reasons why he is famous. They also had some Spanish grammar troubles, writing “nuevo” instead of “nueva pizza” (photo: Facebook).

Another Facebook user also complained via the restaurant’s Facebook page about the name, comparing it to naming a pizza after Hitler, and the response she got was that she “should not take the pizza name so seriously,” and invited her to try it out.

On the other hand, another user that identified himself as Mexican said that the name did not bother him, and even though it was “kinda funny”, pero what he really didn’t like was the ingredients of the pizza: “That’s not Mexican, that’s Tex-Mex,” he added.

After all the backlash, the chain eventually had to change the name of its product and even issue an apology to all its Mexican customers, which read: “We understand that the name of the product called “El Chapo” is clearly very insensitive, and we’ve worked with our franchise in Belgium for it to be either removed from the menu or have the name changed. We offer sincere apologies for the offense this could have caused.”