Huffington Post Journalist Betsy Perry, Says Bev. Hills Chihuhua Is “The Best PR Mexico Has Now.” We Can Think Of Better Choices.

Huffington Post contributor Betsy F. Perry, who bills herself as a strategic marketing and branding consultant, strategically marketed and branded herself a bigot when she wrote on her blog today that “the best PR Mexico has is the movie ‘Beverly Hills Chihuahua.’” Never mind her failure to acknowledge simple style guide rules, (movie titles go in italics, Betsy), the article sounds like it was written by someone whose only knowledge of Mexico is a 1940’s film starring Carmen Miranda.

Joking that the worst thing that used to happen to you in Mexico was getting sick from “eating anything that might have been touched by the Mexican help [who] washed in parasite infested tap water,” Perry claims that “you’d live on guacamole and Doritos even at the finest hotels.” Oh, yes. That authentic Mexican favorite, Doritos. Our grandmother made the best ones.

Betsy should totally hang out with conservative radio host Michael Savage who recently said he doesn’t trust restaurants employing Mexicans because “you don’t know if they wipe their behinds with their hands.” Perry could chime in with her opinion that, unlike the glory days of “the late D.K. Ludwig,” who used to pay “zillions” to fly movie stars to his Acapulco home, today’s Mexico sucks. Yeah, we bet Georgia was a lot more awesome when the black people knew their place, too.

Betsy finishes up by saying that Mexico needs to get a grip on its “banditos” because “you couldn’t pay [her] to go there” declaring they should rush production on Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, “mucho pronto,” or else the U.S. will use swine flu as an excuse to (finally!) close the border.

But surely Beverly Hills Chihuahua can’t be the best PR Mexico has going for it. What about these classics?

The Frito Bandito.

This 1960’s Frito-Lay mascot ran around stealing “cheeps” and firing guns, plus he has a big-ass mustache! That’s pretty much everything a Mexican man aspires to. Yep, that’s it.

Tony Romo.

Cowboys quarterback and all around stud, Tony chose American Jessica Simpson (of camel-toe jean shorts fame) as his mate.

Speedy Gonzales.

Andale! Arriba! These are the only two words in the Spanish language (it’s true!) so devious, promiscuous Speedy single-handedly actually taught an entire nation of white kids how to speak Spanish. Thanks, Speedy!

Mario Lopez And His Pecs.

Mario represents everything that is great about the Mexican male–in a few words: Loincloth. Jungle. Glistening, oiled muscles.

Cheech.

Loveable stoner Cheech won the love of college kids everywhere by playing a harmless, dim-witted Mexican-American deadbeat. Plus it sounds like he named himself after chichis. Mexican-American ambassador of the year!

Betsy did apologize, ultimately, after the site’s readers turned on her. (How did it ever get past the censors over there?) 

One of the challenges for any blogger is to write fast, write short, and get people to find your way of thinking sharp and funny. No question that my post today was written too fast, wasn’t short enough, and turned out to be neither sharp nor funny. I see now that it crossed the line between cute and offensive. For that, I really do apologize, and I have asked that the post be taken down.

Honey, you didn’t cross the line between cute and offensive. You hurtled the chasm between questionable and mind-blowingly stupid.

Mike’s pick rips Mex. then sez oops [NY Daily News]
Amid swine flu outbreak, racism goes viral [MSNBC] Montezuma’s Revenge: Can The Best Thing About Mexico Really Be Beverly Hills Chihuahua? [Huffington Post]