Mollejas, lengua, tripa, menudo, buche, chinchurria, chunchullo, chinchulines, mondongo, rabo de buey.

By Gonzalo López Martí    – Creative director, etc  /   LMMIAMI.COM

• In Argentina, sweetbreads (mollejas) are an expensive delicacy.
• Prohibitively expensive in some cases.
• In France too (they call it ris, if I’m not wrong).
• See, sweetbreads come from the thymus gland and the pancreas of the cow.
• Relatively small organs in the overall build of the animal.
• Hence, it is a scarce good.
• In the US of A, on the other hand, sweetbreads are dirt cheap.
• I’ve been scarfing down mollejas like there’s no tomorrow since I came to ‘merica 17 years ago.
• How come?
• The explanation is simple: mainstream Americans don’t like sweetbreads.
• In fact, mainstream Americans don’t like offal in general.
• For most of them the stuff is kind of gross.
• There’s no demand for the thing.
• The meat packing industry either has to sell it for cheap or discard it.
• Only “ethnic” segments of the carnivore population consume offal.
• Offal meaning the entrails and various organs of the animal, of course.
• What we Hispanics know and love by names such as tripa, pancita, buche, chinchurria, chunchullo, chinchulines, anticuchos, mondongo, sesos, lengua, riñones, lengua, rabo de buey and so on and so forth.
• How long until some hipster chef in Williamsburg or Los Feliz decides that mondongo is the hottest dish in town and prices go through the roof?
• Funny thing is, a similar phenomenon is taking place in the media planning and buying racket.
• Let’s call it the “offal paradox”
• In recent years, advertising in traditional media has regained a considerable ROI.
• It is regarded as many as the offal of the media world.
• If you are a media executive trying to impress a client with your wizardry, traditional media might not be your best option.
• However, it’s become very efficient, competitive and tempting in price.
• Particularly now that we’ve awaken to the fact that digital buys are rife with scandalous fraud.
• Thing is, traditional media outlets having become the ugly duckling of the planning and buying racket, they’ve had to, pardon my French, pull down their pants.
• Sweeten the deal.
• Play ball.
• Bring in the bacon.
• Not unlike lengua and mondongo in your neighborhood butcher shop, traditional media is getting a second look these days.