A Las Vegas restaurant apologized after its “Bluey Day!” promotion was met with disapproval from parents, who criticized the long line, half-hearted activities and an employee in a skimpy costume.
Looking to capitalize on the popularity of “Bluey” — an animated film about a talking six-year-old blue heel dog brought to life by the Australian Broadcasting Corp. and Disney+ — Dirt Dog restaurant operators hosted a free “Bluey Day!” at one of their Sin City restaurants this month.
However, Dirt Dog was unaware of the full extent of Bluey’s popularity, as the event quickly became overcrowded.
Social media posts about the May 11 event complained about a face-painting station that closed early, overpriced supermarket cupcakes and a “watch party” where the cartoon was shown without sound on some televisions.
And although the restaurant promised that children could “meet Bluey and his friends,” photos apparently showed a bearded man, apparently in a onesie, posing as the beloved dog.
Here is just a selection of the scathing comments from the restaurant’s Facebook page:
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“If you go there today, don’t waste your time. It was total chaos, the blue guy isn’t even a costume… it’s a guy in pajamas.”
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“This is not a real Bluey event. The place is unsafe and crowded and they only have a few employees wearing cheap Bluey onesies from Amazon. They also sell their ‘special treats’ that look like supermarket cupcakes for $3.50. An excuse to make more sales by exploiting the interests of young children and their families!”
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“This event was EXTREMELY disappointing. False advertising at its finest. Bluey is a guy in a onesie. There are no friends of Bluey. Bluey watch party? Muted?!?!?”
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“Dirt Dog made a huge mistake today. Maybe they didn’t realize how many followers Bluey had, but the amount of people ‘showing up’ and ‘interested’ in the event should have given them a clue. We were there right at the start of the event at 11am. It was already crowded and we couldn’t get past the ‘hostess’ area. The line for face painting went all the way to the back of the restaurant.”
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“Temu Bluey costume and decorations from Dollar Tree, featured at Dirt Dog Las Vegas Rainbow! Thanks for making my three year old’s day.”
And mother Stephanie Hernandez told KVUU-TV in Las Vegas that the children burst into tears.
“The children were distressed. Some children were crying. Some children were upset and crying on their parents’ shoulders,” she said. “How can you do that to little children? It was a very upsetting moment to see so many children, especially my daughter, just so upset.”
An employee told KVUU that the restaurant expected a handful of children and parents, but hundreds showed up.
“The whole town took to the streets and that’s what we got, the whole town,” said employee Taj Wilder. “Now that we know who Bluey is, if we had planned ahead and provided security, there would have been stricter entry requirements.”
The gourmet hot dog restaurant apologized and said it appreciated the “feedback.”
“We are truly sorry that this event was not the experience we expected,” Dirt Dog wrote. “We were overwhelmed by the turnout for this event. We will continue to improve our events so this doesn’t happen again in the future.”
A representative for Disney+ was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.
The failure of the event led to comparisons with the Willy Wonka-inspired “Chocolate Experience” in Scotland this year, which set the standard for bad family and children’s events.
The Willy Wonka blunder has even inspired memes designed to convey a completely disappointing experience and a disastrous event.
