Mexican Snack Brand Cheekily Supports UK Government's Junk Food Ad Ban

Notoriously spicy Mexican tortilla chip brand Takis launched in the UK last night (Thursday 23 September) with a campaign from Publicis•Poke that delivered a fiery warning about the snack’s spice levels, going so far as to explicitly say: Don’t Eat Takis.  

Takis is known across the pond (and in 22 countries worldwide) for its spicy, intense flavour. It is also a brand known for its cheeky, irreverent attitude and its arrival in the UK was no different, kicking off its launch campaign with a projection on the Houses of Parliament, supporting the Government with a cheeky nod to the debate that’s happening within the walls of Westminster around snack consumption (and advertising).  

Takis is no stranger to kickstarting some spicy conversations in a way that is original, spirited and authentic to its brand. In addition to the Parliament projection, Takis will be utilising digital OOH across the city in locations including Victoria Park, Brick Lane, Blackfriars and Shoreditch High Street, with executions claiming that Takis are ‘none of your five a day’, ‘listen to the haters’ and blurring out the Takis product, with ‘caution: explicit content’, alongside a timer counting down to 9pm, when the full product image is revealed. 

Maria Eugenia de la Fuente Favela, global marketing manager, Takis, said: “We’ve enjoyed seeing the debate over our heat levels in the US, and, in bringing them to the UK, couldn’t resist having a bit of fun at the same time. We would like to thank all our haters for delivering the incredibly important message that… not everyone can handle the heat of Takis. So best not to eat them at all. We’re grateful to Publicis•Poke for helping us get that message out, and all the way to the walls of Westminster to boot.”

Piggybacking on the fact that it is a brand that has traditionally divided public opinion, as part of the UK launch Takis has taken its ‘listen to the haters’ approach one step further, featuring customers' responses and reactions to the fiery snacks across additional OOH sites in London, including tweets such as “I’m never ever ever ever ever eating Takis again” and “my mouth is on fiiiiiiirrreeeeee”. 

Dave Monk, executive creative director, Publicis•Poke added: “Sometimes when the rules change and regulations dictate, you just have to go with the flow. Don’t Eat Takis is a playful, tongue in cheek twist on the current hot topic on everyone’s snacking lips. It might also be the first ever projection on the Houses of Parliament to come out in support of a government.”

As part of the wider launch campaign, Takis will be partnering with Snapchat to create Snap ads, as well as TikTok and a media partnership with LADbible. 

Over the course of the coming months, content from the campaign will be repurposed into social media content, to keep the cheeky message to not eat Takis going in the UK.