Image taken from Honolulu Advertiser

UPDATE #2 (4:25 PM EST):  A YouTube search turns up videos posted by VolvoDriver1978, NebulaBO08 and greenmegsandham, all of whom joined YouTube within the past day and have zero other videos posted.  I’m not linking to it in the hope that ignoring it makes it go away.  Painful attempt to go viral, anyone?

UPDATE (3:59 PM EST):  True to form, Ruby Tuesday has left me feeling unsatisfied and with a vaguely upset stomach.  Multiple visits to their website since the blessed event was supposed to have taken place at 3 have resulted in a graphic of an envelope with the message “cannot initialize stream.”  As I was away from the computer at the appointed time, I didn’t get to watch the video – though our second comment indicates that some sort of stunt involving them blowing up the wrong building actually aired.  Raphael at Serious Eats confirms this.  Marketing success (got us talking about it), mission fail (I’m even less inclined to check out their ‘new’ restaurants once they reopen after this).

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Maybe it was bad service.  Or uninspired “American” cuisine.  Or a deep-seated aversion to everything that the generic “T.G. AppleTuesday” restaurant model represents.  At some point, many of us have had a desire to take a sledge hammer to the faux Tiffany lamps, olde-timey bicycles and other kitsch that clutters the walls of these establishments.

Ruby Tuesday has heard our collective cry, and they have responded.  As the marquis event in their “extreme makeover” of their brand, the Tennessee-based chain that offers ‘simple, fresh American dining’ will be airing the demolition of the very last Ruby Tuesday that features their previous decor.

The event will be taking place on their website at 3 PM EST today.  Though it’s a blatant effort to pull out of the steady decline the company has experienced over the past year-plus, I can’t help but applaud them for tapping into such a great way to grab attention from those of us who don’t mind a bit of schadenfreude – even if it is manufactured. 

I’ll admit it – I’m probably going to check it out.  Score one for Ruby Tuesday.