False Branding is probably not the best way to market cannabis
Storytelling has long been a part of marketing. It’s one of the reasons why we cite the Coronel as one of our “rags to riches stories”. Oh, - you don’t know the story of KFC’s “Coronel Sanders?” Essentially the story goes that the Coronel tried to do many jobs throughout his life – with seemingly little to no success.
It wasn’t that he was bad, it simply didn’t have that “Umph” factor. However, during the Great Depression he started selling chicken utilizing his “Secret Recipe” and sub-sequentially made the chicken empire known as KFC at the tender age of sixty.
Is the story 100% true? Probably not – but it’s based on a real person who actually did that. Not like the subject of our story today. After all – you’re reading a blog on a weed page so apart from the obvious reason why you’re reading about chicken [munchies], what does any of this have to do with cannabis?
La Chingona se afloja!
The story goes that the Chigona – a dispensary owned by three badass Latina sisters from Jalisco. From the start, it seemed like the three sisters were given gifts that would make them a powerhouse within the Californian Cannabis scene.
Maria – “The plant whisperer”, Sonia – “The curandera” and of course, Adriana who could sell anything after watching her father hustle sugar cane growing up.
These three ladies were meant for great things – that is if they were real.
It turned out that “La Chingona” and the Del Rosario sisters were nothing more than a fabrication invented by the owner Michael Kaisar.
While there is legally nothing wrong with inventing fictional characters to represent a brand – A la Tony the Tiger. La Chingona took a more literal and realistic approach.
The story of the three sisters have elements that entice someone to ‘want to know more’. For those with origins from Latin America – it also resonates on a deeper cultural level. Simon Sinek said, “Always Start with why” when you’re selling a brand story.
With La Chingona, the Why is painfully simple – overcoming adversity from the position of a minority. It’s identifying with one of the largest minority groups in the United States with the intention of converting them into loyal fans of the business.
If at the very minimal La Chingona has Latin American ladies working or running the show – the pseudo-fiction would have been forgiven. But the fact that the brand was mostly run by white-males, didn’t sit well with some Latina women.
They were prompted to set things right and in turn reached out to the brand.
The Brand didn’t think they were doing anything wrong
According to a recent article, Susie Placencia was one of the Latina women who didn’t find the story of La Chingona appropriate. Claiming that exploiting the figure of three powerful women for profit was indeed “Cultural Appropriation”.
While I personally dislike that word I think in this case it is text-book. Even with the Mexican connection of the owner[ who had a Mexican Grandmother and was one of the inspirations to the story].
According to Kaiser, he didn’t think that the story was wrong. To him – it was an homage to the strong and powerful women in his life. The fact that he has Mexican blood coursing through his veins should be enough to justify the brand story.
And while I tend to agree with this – we must look at the fact that the story of “La Chingona” is pseudo-fiction, meaning it resembles reality but is actually fiction. This means that it’s very easy to be convinced that it really happened and if the brand doesn’t ensure that people know that the story is false – then it’s deceptive marketing.
Consumers do not like to be deceived and this is the major issue with La Chingona. It’s not that the guy is appropriating a culture, it’s that he is using a deceptive backstory to sell a “feeling” that the brand emits.
If the story of the three sisters included that Maria was born from an Agave, and Sonia from the dew drop of a Mayan Sunrise – then there would have been enough “fiction” within the story to separate it from reality.
The major blunder comes from not being able to separate this fiction from the plight of millions of women and their personal stuggles. Not to mention that Latin America tends to be a very heavy matriarchal market in that, “La mama si es la Chingona”. Especially with “la chancla” – watch out!
The Verdict
It comes down to a story of “he said, she said” where one side claims Cultural Appropriation and the other called it “unjust retribution”. Yes – La Chingona is currently not in operation even though Kaisar said he’ll resurrect the brand.
I personally agree that “La Chingona” is a great brand name – I simply recommend that he includes a deeper sense of fiction within his brand story. Colonel Sanders wasn’t a real Colonel, but he was a real guy who was the face of KFC for many decades.
The Del Rosario sisters are as real as Tony the Tiger – except unlike Tony, they share common experiences with millions of would-be buyers. You can still honor “las chingonas” while selling fantasy – but I think the biggest issue was the fact that there was no distinction between it.
Hell – I’m sure if Kaiser simply opened up a public contest of finding the “face of the company” – “Buscando Chingonas!” to get three real industry bad-bitches to grow for him – he would have saved the company and probably dominated the market.
Yo Kaise – if you need some more million dollar ideas…hit me up.
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