Well, this secret menu seems to imply that this is the way it goes at the In-n-Out, but far more interesting to me is the fact that their run by a religious group that sneaks bibilical content onto it's packaging. What a weird world.
Nothing weird about a family (not a 'religious group') printing what they want on the packaging for their family-owned business. This actually happens a lot, just not usually in a business this size with high name recognition.
I think it's great to live in a country where they can do that and where people can choose not to patronize them. America is all about choice and consequences.
I also don't think it's 'sneaky' and I don't really consider citations 'biblical content'.
I didn't mean to imply there's anything wrong with what they're doing, but the site I linked to seems to imply the messages are sort of discreet about it, hence "sneaky," and well, I suppose I think it
is weird in this day and age of slick marketing campaigns and spin to hear about product packaging that isn't all about advertising. You know, with all the advertising executives in the world telling every company to use every inch of their product to sell more product. So when it comes to the descreetly included messages on In-and-Out's packages, it's like the little "this garment inspected by Beth" paper that falls out of a brand new package of underwear, or the message in fortune cookies - its just a weird little surprise to be invited to pause and think about something other than the product you've purchased. I use
weird in the positive way here. I'm always interested in these little human moments. I tend to like the weird, I collect unusual experiences like some people collect beany babies. I did once get a fortune cookie that said something like "Eat more Chinese food," once though. Even though I don't share the belief system of the In-and-Out, I would probably only be pleased to get to the bottom of my soda, and be reminded to think about my place in the universe, not be reminded to buy more double cheese burgers.
However, when it comes to cynical little me, unlike the In-n-Out, which seems to be a family business gone big-ish, there
are big businesses that try to inject the personal into the their product, just to insidiously convince you that they
do care. The Wal-Mart greeter? Bah! The more spin there is, the more cynical I become to the whole process of consuming, the more I want to go to the corner store, eat at the family run restaurant, etc., etc., etc. I'm just so bloodly sick of being played. Of what little I know about the In-and-Out, I don't assume that they are being manipulative, just genuine. These days though, there is true humanity, and then there is the artificial, double-spun, made-to-look-like-humanity bullshit, and nothing pisses me off more than when I confuse the fake for the real, then figure it out later.