Fortune Filet anyone?

I think I thought that perhaps crazy holiday-themed marketing schemes to get people to feel compelled to buy random items that would otherwise be completely unrelated to the actual holiday you are celebrating because "you are in the holiday spirit" was mainly an Americanism. Turns out, its not. You would be shocked the things that are being Chinese New Year'ed.

My personal favorite is the following:

So I cut off the picture a little bit at the top, but you get the idea- this "flaky, golden brown abundance" is actually a double McFish, undoubtedly with special sauce. But doesn't the fancy advertising make you feel all Chinese New Years-y and spirited? Its so red, and bright, and well, it sort of implies that you will get DOUBLE FORTUNE- which, who doesn't want double fortune, even if it is being delivered to you in the form of fried fish burgers????

A little digging on this subject has informed me that this lucky sandwich can be purchased for the low price of S$5.00 a la carte. Not surprisingly, I am not the only person in the blog-o-sphere that found these delights noteworthy.  Since I am not sure on the rules of linking to other people's blogs, particularly people that you don't know, I will be unable to share the rather interesting pictures that were taken of the Double Fortune Fillet dining experience. But I did find two very important facts about this tasty treat. 1) It replaced the so-called "Prosperity Burger" which I can only imagine was the Singapore-ized version of the Big Mac, and 2) there is indeed special Chinese New Year-ized sauce, the inspiring sounding "tangy sesame mayo sauce." Being that I am not much of a McDonalds fan (except when well inebriated and in need of a breaky sandy to cure the vodka-induced-malaise) so its unlikely that I will be giving this one a shot. 

However, we may indeed give the following CNY treat a try:

Oh yes- this is the Fortune Pizza. Which is shaped like a Chinese coin...which is one of the main symbols of prosperity....which people are totally in to at Chinese New Years. Total marketing home run. 

I have to admit, it looks pretty cool.... but let me tell you what is IN this creation.

Double stuffed crust with three cheese mix, topped with diced BBQ chicken strips, pineapples, sliced mushrooms, on a cool lime mayonnaise base... and, the final touch....the pizza and crust are liberally sprinkled with sesame seeds and corn flakes. 

To be fair, despite the fact that this monster easily has 1000 calories a serving, they really had me interested....right up until the lime mayo. Ick- who wants mayo on a pizza. I have a particularly mayo-phobic friend in the US who I know would probably straight gag if I even suggested she eat pizza with mayo as an essential ingredient.  I don't know- I am not usually one to let something as innocuous as mayo stand in-between me and an important cultural experience...so we may have to suck it up and order one this week. Will let you know how it goes.....