El Cinco

Happy El Cinco de Mayo. I love this holiday for its non-importance in the country of its origin. What does Mexico do on El Cinco de Mayo? Pretty much the same thing that America does on Emancipation Day.

Nothing.

El Cinco de Mayo celebrates the victory of the Battle of Puebla, where Benito Juarez ousted the French rule of Maximilian I in 1862. Benito Juarez, the Mexican Abraham Lincoln as they say.

But as a holiday in Mexico it is ho-hum.

But here in America, it is very closely followed.

Why is that I ask.

It’s mainly because of beer.

Mexican beer.

Corona beer.

Corona brewers needed to come up with a reason for Americans to consume mass quantities of Mexican beer, and happened on El Cinco de Mayo, a non-holiday that they concentrated on, popularized, and got Americans to completely adopt. And why is that? I suspect that it is because Americans were grateful that they were given a reason to consume mass quantities of beer. Mexican beer no less.

Outside of “where’s the beef?” this is the most successful ad campaign ever.

Stay thirsty my friend.