Ask not for whom the Bell trolls, it trolls for thee
Taco Bell may not be the very last fast food franchise you would expect to promote its bill of fare as diet friendly, but it would probably come close.
After all, almost every other item on their menu seems to involve the word “Supreme,” which is evidently shorthand for “extra scoop of sour cream and guacamole.”
And yet, the chain is mounting a TV ad campaign whose theme is that Taco Bell is the weight-watcher’s friend. In at least one commercial, an attractive woman who is purportedly not an actor but an actual Taco Bell patron declares that she has lost such-and-such amount of weight by making the Bell’s low-fat items her fast food staple.
To support this claim, the commercial includes a banner line across the bottom of the screen boasting, “Seven items under 9 grams of fat.”
Even better, it’s drive-through, because who wants to do all that walking from the car to the counter?
Unfortunately for Taco Bell, the spot raises not only one’s suspicions, but certain questions. Such as:
- Is this woman one of those people who have tried several dozen weight loss plans and programs and regimens, each of which has worked beautifully for up to six months before the inevitable backslide to square one?
- Since the commercial doesn’t specify the “seven menu items,” how do we know they’re not including the taco sauce, or for that matter, the napkins, in their count?
- For each Taco Bell weight-loser like this woman, how many commercials could be filmed featuring people who’ve gained such-and-such amount of weight by eating regularly at Taco Bell? Does a ratio of, say, 350 to 1 sound about right?
- Also, we’re talking about seven low-fat choices out of how many total menu items? Again, the 350-to-1 ratio comes to mind.
Good luck to Taco Bell with its new campaign, at least to the extent that people who are going to patronize the chain anyway might now opt for the moderately healthier menu items. Frankly, we’d prefer to see a comeback by the former Taco Bell spokesdog, the “Yo quero Taco Bell” chihuahua.
Alas, we’ve heard a rumor that he died of complications from diabetes.
(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
From the RSS feed of CalorieLab News (REF3076322B7)
The Taco Bell Diet: No, stop laughing, they’re serious