Sergio Romo Now Hawking an Ice Cream That “Only Tastes Illegal”

Jun 18, 2013
11:40 AM

Looks like the momentum from Sergio Romo’s brilliantly genius FU moment when he wore a “I Just Look Illegal” tee last year during the San Francsico Giants’ World Series parade is over. That powerful message clearly struck a chord with many, and Romo was celebrated as an athlete speaking out.

Now that message has become an ice cream product.

Fail.

We got this news from Buzzfeed, which reported that Northern California’s Three Twins Ice Cream signed Romo to endorse a new flavor, “Sergio Romo’s Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream.” The ice cream’s packaging shows a smiling Romo next to two of the Twins in sombreros. Under that image, there is the tagline: “It only tastes illegal.”

sergio

The tagline is trying really hard to jokingly play tribute to Romo’s shining moment, and the joke falls flat. There was something empowering about what Romo did last year, and his latest product just seems to mock it.

One person said it best when she told Three Twins the following: “If its what i think it is (spicy chocolate) cant wait to try it, but i Don’t care for the slogan either. Why not something like “you MexiCan’t get enough”?” Yeah, why not?

Another individual asked, “I love it! but i dont like the line about the illegal maybe your design team can come up with something a little less tacky…”

We tend to agree about the tackiness on this end. This ice cream isn’t about the tee shirt Romo wore and the message it conveyed. This is about ice cream and a forced connection with Romo that, quite frankly, misses the mark. There is a reason why the Three Twins Facebook page continues to explain the connection, and even then, it still feels forced. Romo’s World Series parade moment was about how labels keep dehumanizing us. This new product is about ice cream

As for Romo? Some of his shine has worn off a bit. He’s still cool in our book, but this is still tacky. Here’s hoping this product doesn’t start a new trend of “illegal” products. We already have seen enough.