Thursday, October 22, 2009

Dear Dunkin' Donuts: America does not run on Dunkin'... At least not until you open some stores in America

As any of my fellow left coasters will tell you, one of the best thing about visiting Boston or New York City is being able to walk out a building and find a Dunkin' Donuts within short walking distance. Not only are the donuts awesome, Dunkin' also happens to serve great coffee.



My enjoyment of Dunkin' Donuts is always tempered by the knowledge that this is a regional chain. It's how I imagine people from the East coast feel about Kogi Taco, Peet's Coffee or Coffee Bean. And while I love Dunkin' Donuts and their coffee drinks, their advertising tag line "America runs on Dunkin'" always struck me as a little bit delusional... how can "America" run on Dunkin' if their store is no where to be found in America? If you go to the Dunkin' Donuts website and go to store location and put in a zip code, any zip code from California, you will find nothing. Try it with other Western states, too. Nothing. Expand your search to the mountain states and you get a few hits in Arizona. Midwest region get some Dunkin' love but only in selected cities. You don't get many store listings until you get close to New England and the Acela corridor. Which is fine. Whatever... no one expects advertising to be truthful.



Then I went to Asia. And Dunkin' Donuts are everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Like Starbucks and McDonald's. According to the intrawebz (which is never wrong), there are nearly 1,800 Dunkin' Donuts shops in the Asia Pacific region, including 725 in Korea, 600 in the Philippines, and 260 in Indonesia. There are two dozen Dunkin' Donuts in Taipei but none in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Denver, or Seattle. What. The. F---? Anyway, that also didn't bother me that much either. I figured the more Dunkin' Donuts overseas the better because it means there are more airports in the world that I can grab delicious donuts (try the mochi donuts next time you are in a Dunkin' Donuts store in Asia).



But now I'm mad. What really ticked me off is the latest Dunkin' Donuts advertising campaign on TV. Instead of advertising regionally, now they are buying prime time ads on national TV. They tempt me with their donuts and coffee drinks and then ruthlessly crush my hope and dreams by running their tag line at the end. America runs on Dunkin'... Oh really? How about you freaking open some stores in America so your TV ads are not an exercise in irony? Korea runs on Dunkin'. Taiwan runs on Dunkin'. Philippines too. But not America. Definitely not America.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know where you live, but there are 8 stores within 50 miles from my house near St. Louis, MO.

And even though it's not listed on the website, I grew up in Eugene OR and there was always Dunkin Donuts there. It was my favorite doughnut place as a kid. Has it closed in the last five years since I've lived in MO? Who knows. Probably not though because they were pretty much the only doughnut specialty shop in town.

Anonymous said...

In America, Dunkin Donuts is present basically only in the eastern half of US. I just heard they opened their first store in California recently. And you know what? They had Dunkin Donuts in Korea when I was living there 20+ years ago. Actually, Dunkin Donut in Korea is Koreanized, and I think it's been maybe more of a success in Korea than here.. I want try some Donkin Donuts from Korea.. too bad I'm in America now.