White Castle burger-onion candle makes scents, but lacks some sense

What do you get when you combine a good cause with an off-the-wall fast-food promotion? White Castle made me think about this one for a while.

I visited my local White Castle in Brooklyn, N.Y., Tuesday to buy the $10 White Castle onion-and-burger-scented candle to benefit Autism Speaks. I figured I'd be in for the major marketing treatment. Instead I got two counterpeople who had no idea what I was talking about and a manager who didn't know where the candles were.

There were no signs trumpeting the charity, no cute little counter announcements or table standups. If you're going to do off-the-wall, do it right. If the fast-food trade knows one thing, it's that we burger eaters want it simple, cheap and in plain sight. The manager fumbled around the back for a candle while the workers up front wondered why they hadn't heard of the candles. Finally, he found one.