Taco Bell shrimp ads remain totally random

If you thought Taco Bell was getting obscure with its "Shrimp Blogger" ad last year, then you're probably downright baffled by Draftfcb's new "Shrimp Crashers" spot, shown below. An entire TV ad riffing on a movie from six years ago—but with shrimp? Ah hell, why not. If you've got a better way to sell seafood from Taco Bell, I'd like to hear it.

Filed under Draftfcb, Griner, Restaurants, Taco Bell
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Employees offer impartial Taco Bell defense

Taco Bell keeps swearing its seasoned beef is 88 percent real meat, and its latest ads—touting the Crunchwrap Supreme, on special this week for 88 cents—feature employees who were ground up and served in chalupas to prove it. Kidding, of course. Subsisting on their meager hourly wages, team members are far too scrawny to satisfy most healthy American appetites. Anyway, the company's been under fire over its ingredients for some time, and it's the target of a class-action lawsuit that alleges its meat is only 35 percent beef. Who better to refute such detractors than folks whose livelihoods depend on their continued employment at Taco Bell? Their testimony is unimpeachable! I guess their assertions aren't utter bull—just mostly bull, with some filler. The lettuce is styrofoam, by the way. Taste it and tell me I'm wrong!

Filed under Food and drink, Gianatasio, Restaurants, Taco Bell
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Taco Bell bribing Facebook fans for support

Taco Bell has launched part two of its response to the class-action lawsuit filed over the content of its tasty but not entirely beefy beef. Part one, you may recall, was the snarky "Thank you for suing us" ad. Now, the chain is thanking its Facebook fans for supporting Taco Bell in these tough times with a free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco each. "Throughout the beef class action lawsuit, the response and enthusiasm from our Facebook community has been overwhelmingly positive," says CEO Greg Creed. "We found it only fitting to reward these 5.4 million fans and a friend with a free taco. It's our way of saying thanks for their loyalty and support." It's also essentially bribing them to ensure that loyalty as the lawsuit staggers on. Just saying. Not that anyone's going to care about the outcome one way or the other—if anything, we'll all be surprised if Taco Bell's meat is actually food, let alone meat.

Filed under Facebook, Kiefaber, Restaurants, Taco Bell
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Buddy Mignon serenades meat for Taco Bell

"To me, steak is a lot like the love of a lady ... all the juices and just everything—so succulent." So says Buddy Mignon, the geek-faced, mustachioed, sirloin-obsessed lounge crooner introduced in new Draftfcb ads for Taco Bell. When the tone-deaf troubadour belts out lines like "I wanna tear that wrapper off you and eat you like a piece of meat!" you know he means business. See the 30-second spot below. Below that is a three-minute "behind-the scenes" clip, in which Buddy shamelessly confides, "I like to just walk out into a pasture and feel a cow," as he makes boob-grabbing hand gestures. During his set, he strokes the ivories and breathlessly sings the praises of Taco Bell's new Quad burrito, leading the audience in heartfelt choruses of, "Four times the steak!" (It's probably more like 1.4 times the steak, given the client's alleged penchant for cutting its meat with fillers.) This uber-silly stuff scores by being defiantly loud and stupid at every turn. Attention to detail adds to the fun—Buddy's hipster drawl; the flash/trash decor of the steakhouse where he plays; and the sub-Sinatra chapeau he sports during the black-and-white recording session footage. At the risk of slicing the steak puns a tad thick, here we have something rare for Taco Bell: ads that are well done.

Filed under Draftfcb, Gianatasio, Restaurants, Taco Bell
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Taco Bell response to beef lawsuit: sarcasm

Taco Bell wasted no time in hitting back against a lawsuit about what's in its ground beef. Taco Bell parent Yum! Brands took out print ads today in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other publications with a bold "Thank you for suing us" headline. The ads reiterate Taco Bell's denial that it's serving a "meat mixture" that's only 35 percent ground beef. Taco Bell says it's real "seasoned beef." The ads are a rapid response to a suit that was filed only just this week. (There are also Google ads with a letter from the Taco Bell president about its meat.) Judging from the comments Taco Bell is racking up on Twitter, the "mystery meat" claim has struck a chord with diners skeptical of what could go into a 99-cent taco. I can only imagine if this case goes to discovery. A nation will collectively turn away as the mystery-meat process is laid bare. The ironic part is, Taco Bell might be doing its customers a favor if it were cutting the red meat with filler like whole grain, since excessive red-meat consumption is the source of any number of health woes. Maybe making Taco Bell the cornerstone of your diet is a solid strategy after all. Full ad after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Filed under Lawsuits, Morrissey, Restaurants, Taco Bell
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Yankees' Taco Bell spot not very nourishing

If you've been watching playoff baseball on TBS, you've seen this spot with New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi and pitcher Mariano Rivera advertising's Taco Bell's XXL Chalupa. A guy can't finish his XXL, so Girardi pulls him in favor of Rivera. Girardi slaps the guy on the ass, and Rivera attempts to act, with poor results. I'm not in New York, so I assume this must be airing nationally. Do Girardi and Rivera need the money? I doubt this spot even gets made if Steinbrenner were still alive. The only way this ad would be palatable is if Joba Chamberlain plays the guy who can't finish his meal—much like he can't finish an inning these days.

Filed under Baseball, Food and Drink, Nudd, Restaurants, Taco Bell
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Taco Bell ad is great PR for shrimp bloggers

I've always thought of shrimp as an overpriced mediocrity, which might explain why I've never run across a "shrimp blogger" like the one in Taco Bell's new ad for Pacific Shrimp Tacos. Of course, it might also be because he's fictional, as no actual person would get that excited about something like this. But that hasn't stopped real bloggers from trying to fill the void. Kotaku's Owen Good staked his claim as the first to actually blog about the new delicacy, while anti-shrimping site ShrimpSuck.org is now billing itself as "the Original Shrimp Blog, home of the REAL, globe traveling 'Shrimp Blogger' as seen on TV."

—Posted by David Griner

Filed under Food and drink, Griner, Restaurants, Taco Bell
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Charles Barkley not trying the Taco Bell diet

A month after insulting America's collective intelligence with its Drive-Thru Diet, Taco Bell is going back to to its roots by rolling out an obese spokesperson for its calorific grub. The fast-food chain started airing new spots over the weekend that feature Charles Barkley, aka the Round Mound of Rebound, extolling the virtues of Taco Bell's NBA $5 Buck Box. Rolling out the former NBA star makes a lot more sense than talking about how Christine Dougherty lost 54 pounds by scarfing down items from the chain's fresco menu. (Results may vary.) Let's hope Christine sticks to the fresco menu. A Volcano Box adds up to nearly 1,400 calories before adding in the medium soft drink—more than the 1,250 calories Christine claims she consumed per day. Barkley is an interesting choice for a spokesman. He's just a year removed from getting picked up for drunk driving and admitting to arresting officers that he was on his way to get … well, not tacos. He's also known for racking up $10 million in gambling losses and once throwing a guy through a plate-glass window.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Food and drink, Morrissey, Restaurants, Taco Bell
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Are they kidding me with the Taco Bell diet?

Subway had great success using Jared to paint its subs as a healthier alternative to fast food that makes you incredibly fat. Taco Bell is trying to get into the act with the "Drive-Thru Diet" campaign (from Draftfcb and R/GA) to coincide with the New Year's resolution season. The TV spot above shows a woman named Christine Dougherty, who apparently dropped 54 pounds by eating low-fat offerings from Taco Bell's "fresco" menu. When I first saw it, I thought it was a Saturday Night Live parody. The woman says she wanted to diet but "didn't want to cut out my fast food." Digest that for a moment. It's like saying you want to get a handle on your drinking problem so long as you don't have to cut out the whiskey. Dieticians are divided about the campaign, but most consumers seem to be laughing about it. Perhaps Taco Bell knows most people won't take it seriously, since the microsite features Christine's story told through infomercials—not exactly a style that builds trust. In Taco Bell's defense, its claims are technically true. You can swing by and pick up some low-fat tacos. If, like Christine, you keep yourself to 1,250 calories a day, you'll probably lose weight. The problem is, most Taco Bell items are far from healthy and often highly caloric. Its menu is filled with items seemingly designed to raise cholesterol levels and blood pressure. Taco Bell even promotes its food as a "fourthmeal," between dinner and breakfast. As Jezebel points out, that makes this ploy as a weight-loss solution particularly cynical.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

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Taco Bell’s iconic, $42M Chihuahua has died

One of the most memorable commercial mascots of all time, Taco Bell's Gidget the Chihuahua, has died at age 15. Her wide-eyed gaze and male-voiced catchphrase, “Yo quiero Taco Bell,” made her a fixture of the fast food chain’s late ’90s TV advertising. But for Taco Bell, those adorable ads were also a huge headache. A lawsuit from the concept’s creators led to a drawn-out legal battle that just reached its apparent conclusion in January of this year, when a federal appeals court ruled that Taco Bell should pay the originators $42 million. Then there’s the fact that Taco Bell sales actually slipped in the “Chihuahua Era,” leading many to say the campaign was ineffective. All that said, it’s still sad to see Gidget go.

—Posted by David Griner

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The more musical way to order at Taco Bell

Rhett & Link, the musical comedy duo who worked on the Red House Furniture commercial below, have brought their Flight of the Conchords vibe to various other projects for brands like Alka-Seltzer, Baby Ruth, Starburst, Hummer and Cadillac. Above is their Taco Bell drive-thru song. The guys say they are "actively seeking to partner with agencies and brands to create high-quality branded content." Go here for more.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

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Who moved my cheese and bean burrito?

“City gave pass to rathole KFC.” That’s a rough headline for any brand to endure, particularly KFC/Taco Bell. If the rats were introduced as a high-risk, high-reward PR strategy designed to make people forget about Taco Bell’s E. coli scare, well—mission accomplished. But really, there’s no messaging spin that could fix the problem. The video of the House of Rats on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan will live forever. (Some accounts say there were 50 rats. 5-0!) Yum! Brands need not bother reopening the restaurant—who’ll eat there? The company might, however, want to remove that sign proclaiming “We deliver.” And drop off a few dozen cats.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under KFC, Taco Bell
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