That Viral One-Star Tamale Review Was a Marketing Stunt, and Honestly, Genius Move

Remember the viral review where a woman named "Rebecca O" left a one-star review on a tamale because it was "chewy, stringy, and I couldn't even bite through it," then followed up with five stars saying she had been told she was not supposed to eat the cornhusk? Turns out the whole thing was a marketing stunt cooked up by the restaurant itself.

The Tamale Store, a family-owned restaurant and marketplace in Phoenix, finally admitted that Rebecca O does not exist. Pauline Alvarado, the chief marketing officer and co-owner, said Rebecca was born from her imagination, inspired by a real customer who once complained about a tamale, only for Alvarado to realize the woman had eaten part of the corn husk. They laughed about it, she got a free tamale, and a legend was born. In 18 years of business, Alvarado says she has seen countless real-life Rebecca O's.

The post racked up hundreds of thousands of likes, with one Instagram repost passing 300,000. And you know what? It worked. The best marketing stunts are the ones that are secretly just the truth about your customers. Every tamale shop in America has a Rebecca. This one just gave her a name.