Taco Bell takes a licking.

by Banned 48 replies
57



Taco Bell Promises 'Swift Action' After Employee Tongues Tacos on Facebook | Adweek


What would you do to turn that around - in a hurry? Here's my suggestion - It's already gone viral. They need to piggyback that. Something like -



Then they run a fake reel of bloopers of staff licking the shells. So in the end people don't know if its a set-up or real.

To go with that they feature "Licked Shells" or "Pre-Licked Shells" on the menu.

But the whole campaign would need to be "out there" and bold as hell. I'm guessing they wouldn't have the balls to do it.

I believe that's called (to paraphrase their old slogan) - "Thinking outside the bun".

There again maybe they could riff on the current slogan "Live Mas" ("Live More") and tag it "Lick More".

You're welcome Taco Bell. Send the check to "The Copy Nazi, Paris" - it'll find me.

Update:
#copywriting #bell #licking #taco #takes
  • yeaaaaaaaaaa no.

    This will all be forgotten in a month if it hasn't already. Last thing you want to do is call more attention to it.
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    • Banned
      Rubbish. They need to leverage that attention - deftly. Hoping it "will all go away soon" is just plain dumb. Have a look at what Reddit did to that Chicken Scratch restaurant.

      "Taco Lickin' Good"
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  • Will it blow over?

    Yup.

    But Taco Bell would be stupid to not use some creativity and turn this into a positive.

    Remember when that Austin movie theater kicked out some chick for texting and she left a voicemail saying she'd tell everyone about how bad they are?

    Don't Talk - Angry Voicemail (Uncensored) - YouTube
    Turning a negative (like licking tacos) into a proftable campaign is no-brainer.
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  • The only possible "positive" things in this situation would be that A, hopefully no customers received any of those shells, and B, if they did - the worker did not have a disease that could be transmitted to them.

    Trying to turn this in to some propaganda about "oh, even the employees can't keep their tongue off them!" would be moronic.

    There is a difference between joking/trying to make the best of a situation, and completely disregarding cleanliness/hygiene.

    The latter would fall in to that 2nd category, in my opinion.
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  • very funny! if you commented the same thing on mashable on facebook i think i "liked" your post several hours ago!
  • I just saw a BP ad trying to recoup from the disaster they created:

    BP's Commitment to America has Never Been Stronger - YouTube
    "When we made our commitment to the Gulf..."

    My snap reaction was "lame-ass and half-ass". All the authority symbols, etc. that they've got in that little production just didn't work to overcome the reality.

    This little tempest in a teapot? I'll go with the OP here: the damage can both be minimized and it can be turned into a big op for the company - if they have the mojo. Which I also doubt they do.

    (Damn. I just had a flash of an ad that features a huge Mexican boot kicking a pimply-faced fryer-jockey with a stained apron and a stuck-out tongue into a mile-high trajectory. Voice-over: "When you lick a Taco Bell taco, be SURE you're on the right side of the counter." Scrolling across the bottom: "Make sure to lick us on Facebook.")
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    • You actually succeeded in convincing yourself that it wouldn't work...and then did it. Except we could go with a television commercial (unless this is what you meant) of the fryer jockey getting batch slapped by his manager and go with your audio lines.

      I'd get this idea copyrighted.

      Seriously it's funny and it would earn a lot of brownie points with the younger crowd who will be turned off by this and would find it funny to see a resembling character get smack onto the counter Rick James style.



      ETA we could even make fun of the blacked eyes and CG a black bar over the guys eyes in the commercial as an after edit type thing and it would really hit, I know it.

      ETA2 it would also make the older crowd bust a gut because they would most likely see the situation from the managers point of view, either way you make fun of an anonymous taco shell licker.
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  • Banned
  • Banned
    What's the target demographic for Taco Bell, you band of geniuses? Teenage males. Who do you think my idea would resonate with? Teenage males - bigtime.

    THINK - before you open your mouth. Or at least DO SOME RESEARCH.

    Brand Mas: Taco Bell Turnaround is Taking Hold

    So maybe we need to drop the ubiquitous "dude" into that heading.


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    • Funny thing - I just ate at one last week (for the first time in years), and the place was about evenly divided between tables full of teens and family groups (one white, one hispanic, and two black, IIRC.) Surprised me a bit, since I only remembered it from the 1980s as the place to get a burrito at 1 a.m., especially when drunk.
  • Banned
  • Funny joke. I hope it was worth his NEVER ENJOYING A MEAL IN A RESTAURANT AGAIN FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.


    I remember teaching a PR class in Shanghai. We did a mock product recall PR speech.

    To a student, each one blamed the customer and assumed corporate unassailability. I find that fascinating.
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    • I wonder mightily, I do. I suspect you're giving him credit for much more self-awareness than he actually has.

      When I was a young immigrant living in L.A., my first American friends were... from the wrong side of the tracks, let's say. (And I'm damn glad of it, actually; seeing that side of life in the US early on has served me in uncountable ways since, and saved my ass in a number of bad situations.) One of the "friends of a friend" worked in a fast food restaurant - a Wendy's, maybe? - and I remember him boasting about getting revenge on a nasty customer by rubbing the burger patty on his dick before frying it up.

      I didn't spend much time in fast-food restaurants in those days - for one thing, money was so tight that making a chicken last most of a week was not unusual - but I don't recall that the story ever stopped me from eating at burger joints later. Between the statistical unlikelihood of it, my general refusal to worry about things unless they really do damage or create problems, the hot, sterilizing frying grease in those places, and the amount of nasty, toxic crap that you get in commercially-sold food anyway, I just can't see freaking out about it too much.

      This kid? Forget it. Since he clearly doesn't have any concept of "what goes around comes around", he's just as likely to mindlessly pop into a fast food joint while all this noise is still going on. I can just see the entire crew high-fiving and hooting in the back as bites into that burger...
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  • Banned
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    • Taco Bell turned a bad press disaster around in the past,
      Thank You for Suing Us so interesting to see if they can turn this around.

      Best,
      Ewen
  • Yeah, gonna go out on a limb and say that the big wigs at TBell probably won't be using the phrase "Tongue The Taco" anytime soon. Might appeal to women, but for men it just makes our necks hurt.
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  • Banned
    Guys... you know what's really weird? That idiot Michael Douglas came out two days ago with "Oral sex gave me cancer".

    Now how can we tie that in with "Tongue the taco"?

    uh-oh... think I'm having an acid flashback. I can see the slogan on T-shirts ...under the Taco Bell logo..."Tongue the Taco".
  • Banned
    I got it... we get a Michael Douglas lookalike... saying straight to camera "Tongue the Taco" and he winks... or dies... or morphs into Gordon Gecko with a taco in his mouth.


  • So your advice to Taco Bell, would be to give fame to some pimply faced schmuck that landed their company into hot water.

    Which further would encourage the extremely narcissistic demographic work force they have into thinking that perhaps they too could carry out unhygienic shenanigans. Said, shenanigans could also lead them to internet and national fame.

    Is this a joke, or are you actually being serious?
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    • Banned
      Rather ironic that you should have this quote as your sig -
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  • Banned
  • Haha! They should bring back the stupid chihuahua and have it say "No me chupo el culo más porque me lame conchas de taco bell"
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    • Banned
      "Now if we could just have the chihuahua licking the taco seductively"...that's it...hold that...and now cut to the jerk thats tonguing the stack. N-i-c-e. That's a take.
  • So I ask a question and you call me a loser?

    LOL you're a real piece of work, kid
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    • Banned
      "Kid" - the first... can that... second "Laugh Out Loud" I've had today. (sigh... I mean that in a good way - not being snarky - carry on)
  • This kind of stuff happens ALL the time. I browse 4chan a lot (If you don't know what that is, you more than likely don't want to know) and I've seen a lot of people do stuff like this.

    I remember when someone at Burger King was standing on a box of lettuce and then he uploaded a picture taunting 4chan saying "this is the lettuce you eat."

    Within 30 minutes they geo tracked him down, contacted news teams and had them fired the next day. Why people taunt the power of a bunch of anonymous bored teenagers is beyond me...

    Who honestly thinks they're getting quality and well maintained food anyways? I've worked in fast food and this really doesn't disgust me because people do far worse on a regular basis. This is only causing a stir because the media got a hold of it.

    Like a previous poster said, people will forget about it soon and he'll be out of a job soon as well. After all, Taco Bell doesn't usually seek the most intelligent people, they prefer the type of people who would upload a picture like this because they're not usually the people who will reach out for more or ever ask for a raise.

    Complacent idiots make the best employees for crap jobs like this.

    Sales aren't going to take a toll, no one's going to care. That's like the idle threats for Walmart customers who would say "I AM NEVER SHOPPING HERE AGAIN!" Rest assured, you'd see them back the next time they needed something. I've had my fair share of crap jobs, I sincerely doubt Taco Bell or any major chain is going to be hurting just because someone was retarded.

    Where else can you get the foods of the Gods when you're drunk or under the influence? That's a majority of their traffic anyways, when people are drunk and want some tacos/burritos.

    People do stuff like this everywhere, if you truly want to be safe from people doing disgusting things to your food, I wouldn't eat out anywhere... I worked in my fair share of fast food establishments, it's disgusting. A lot of cooks don't wear gloves, follow health and safety, etc.

    Life will go on.
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    • I was in that thread. Lol... epic times were had.

      I was also in the "from Dr Jimmy Rustles" one where somebody got a waitress fired for talking about spitting in customer food.

      ...I spend too much time online :rolleyes:

      My point to OP was that people would care if they actually heard about it. He was saying that Taco Bell should literally start paying for advertising that says "our employees lick our tacos at work".

      If they put millions into marketing that terrible idea, people would find out about it, and they would care.
  • Eh, I dunno man, when something gets to that level I think you've really got more of a PR issue on your hands than a copy issue. Using it in a cheeky sales campaign would probably provoke serious outrage.
  • Banned
    Reminds me of the Domino Pizza employee/dumbazz that took a bath in the kitchen sink, then posted the pics online.
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