Taco Bell has recently landed in hot water with vegetarian organizations following a seemingly anti-veggie ad, which shows a person bring a bowl of vegetables to a Super Bowl party, and has now been pulled.
The advertisement is meant to promote their variety 12-pack of tacos, which includes six regular tacos and six Doritos Tacos Locos. The party's host looks at the veggie platter that the guest brings with a lackluster expression at which point the announcer chimes in, "Veggies on game day is like punting on fourth and one. It's a cop out. And secretly? People kinda' hate you for it."
According to the Associated Press, the Center for Science in the Public Interest urged people to tweet their complaints about the ad. Taco Bell promptly removed the advertisement.
Rob Poetsch, a spokesman for Taco Bell, says, "We didn't want anyone to misinterpret the intent of the ad." It is not known what the message of the ad was, beyond "Eat tacos instead of vegetables."
"It's bad enough that there aren't many ads on television for broccoli, kale or carrots. The last thing healthy fruits and vegetables needed was to be the subject of attack ads," said Margo Wottan, CSPI's nutrition policy director. "Thanks to Taco Bell for responding with record speed to address nutritionists' and consumers' concern over this ad campaign."
Meanwhile, Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed, announced on "CBS This Morning" that Cool Ranch tacos are on the way. "We've got Cool Ranch. That's coming," he said. "That's my tease."
Taco Bell introduced tacos with a Doritos shell for its 50th anniversary. Cool Ranch is a flavor of Doritos, so it would appear the brand is taking the partnership with longstanding partner Frito-Lay even further.
"We started working with Frito-Lay a number of years ago. For our 50th anniversary, we wanted to celebrate the taco. And you know, there had been no innovation in tacos. So we sat down with Frito-Lay, they obviously own Doritos, they're our great partners. Two years later, we launched the Doritos Locos Taco, which ... is the biggest launch in Taco Bell."
