Y'know, now that I read Bayless' recipes closer, I DID find it curious that a goat mole dish calls for '10 flame-broiled chicken parmesan sandwiches, made fresh to order'... A shrewd marketer decided to ask Rick to do this, probably right around the same time a publicist somewhere said "How can we get Rick's books more press?" Bayless sells his books to a few of US. Burger King sold some sandwiches to some of THEM. The challenge to anyone selling anything is to get some of THEM to buy stuff from US, and those pronouns are relative, so it works both ways. BK is not looking specifically to sell a sandwich to anyone that knows what "artisanal" cooking is, but if John Q Public says "I think I've seen that guy's book at Barnes & Noble/Costco/Target," Mr. Public might buy the sandwich. It's street cred for BK, and for Rick, it's press. You can bet damn sure that an author in this decade who's best mass-market notoriety is from PBS didn't make that much money by showing up for a commercial shoot funded by a major corporation. They make their money by charging large coin for a product that they buy cheaply. If Rick has a chance at introducing his name & face to a few new people, he'll have a better chance at selling a few more books, bottles of sauce & dry rub, and dishes (maybe). Hate his decision or not, this string is proof that it's working somehow - and until he actually starts specifying BK onion rings and ketchup packets in his recipes, it doesn't change a damn thing about his work.
