Truth in advertising?

The Applebee's tagline, "Eatin' good in the neighborhood," contains a whopping three errors in five words. This must be some sort of new record. First there is "eatin;'" as everyone knows it should be "eating," but, in the interest of creating a tagline that speaks to its audience, I suppose this is okay. Next is "eatin' good." One does not eat "good," one eats "well." Applebee's carries the linguistic license a bit far in this instance.

The final and most egregious error in this tagline concerns the word "neighborhood." I've been to a few Applebee's in my time, but I have never been to one, or even seen one that could be considered part of a "neighborhood." The very word "neighborhood" conveys a close knit circle of neighbors who can walk to each others houses. A "neighborhood" restaurant is one that any member of the "neighborhood" can walk to. Applebee's restaurants exist almost exclusively as stand alone structure with a vast parking lot designed only for Applebee's.

Applebee's is kind of like the Wal-Mart of restaurants: plenty of stuff (or food) but nothing distinctive. I like French fries (yes, French!) as much as the next guy, but there is nothing at Applebee's that one would consider "signature."

That said, here are some new tagline ideas for Applebee's:

"Good eating with plenty of seating."

"Eating well because you're so swell."

"Okay food where no one is rude."

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