High End Restaurants Across the US Selling “Sex”

Fast food and fast casual chains do it on a regular basis, but it’s rare to see locally-owned restaurants hooking up with movie premieres in cross promotional efforts. But the lure of the sequel to “Sex and the City” is apparently irresistible to high-end restaurants across the country.

Some of the more frequent ideas:

• Come dressed as your favorite SATC character with the possibility of winning dinner and even trips and cash
• Sushi restaurants creating maki (rolls) that resemble (not too closely I hope) sex toys
• Sommeliers dressed like “Mr. Big”
• Offering pre-screening dinner parties with low-cal Cosmopolitans and other SATC favs (in an effort to appeal to women)
• Restaurants staging “Cocktails and Couture” events
• Pastry chefs coming up with versions of Carrie’s favorite pink-frosted cupcakes

So what does all this portend? It means that great food, in and of itself, can always use a little help from four of the sexiest women in the US. And it means that higher end restaurants are willing to take a page on occasion from the Mickey D’s and Burger Kings of the world.

Postscript to Sex and the City (June 11th, 2010)

Finally got to watch this movie. Whatever clever promotions were planned for this film, I hope they were swiftly executed. I have never seen a slower, more plodding and eminently unfunny movie in years. It all went downhill after the gay wedding opening sequence. Too long, too much hype, and too much Abu Dabi.