Down at IHOP

A cop pulls over a Volkswagen packed with 23 kids in it.

"Let me guess,..." he says. "Stuffed French Toast down at IHOP."

Yeah, that would be my first guess, too.

There are about 12 of these commercials and they're all the same.
A bunch of colorful people are engaging in kooky behavior of some sort.
A cheerful onlooker shakes his head.
"What could have gotten into those guys?"

Then it dawns on him.
Of course.
I should have known.
There is quite obviously some wacky new crepe or banana pancake or chocolate chip omelette "down at IHOP"
with a deal so irresistible that, once exposed,
these good people had no choice but to lose their senses.

"Ah," says the enlightened cop / coach / bus driver.
"It's got to be those stuffed French chocolate chip pineapple popovers down at IHOP!"

Because the International House of Pancakes is the unseen all-controlling power of the universe, governing our behavior with each fresh and fruity special.

Apart from the enormous gaps in logic
what really gets to me about these ads is the "Down At IHOP".
Every single commercial, "Down At IHOP"
Every time I hear it, I repeat it. Mystified. "Down At IHOP."

What makes IHOP "down" exactly?
Is it because it's such a happenin' place?
Suppose you live downhill from the IHOP?
Then you might go "up to IHOP." Right?

IHOP has the gall to air these ads at a time when one of their stores closed in Castleton, the most traffic-congested area of Indianapolis...pathetic!