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Speaker 1: Too Much Information is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to Too Much Information, the show

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Speaker 2: that brings you the secret histories and little known fascinating

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Speaker 2: facts and figures behind your favorite TV shows, movies, music,

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Speaker 2: and more. We are your two fast food junkies of

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Speaker 2: fast and fun.

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Speaker 1: Factis okay, We'll take it. I'm Alex Heigel and I'm

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Speaker 1: Jordan run Talk.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't. You're so much better at these than

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Speaker 2: I am. To be honest, it's the part of the

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Speaker 2: episode I phone in the most.

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Speaker 1: You're gordidos of great facts. I'll take it. I couldn't

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Speaker 1: know that's found your.

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Speaker 2: Mexican pizzas of Minuche. Oh that was right, well, that

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Speaker 2: was right there, well Jordan. Today we are breaking some

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Speaker 2: new ground here on TMI. We've given individual food stuffs

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Speaker 2: the TMI treatment before with Oreos and the Choco Taco,

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Speaker 2: and we've taken a look at the Resto Entertainment Empire

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Speaker 2: of one Charles Entertainment Cheese. But today we are casting

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Speaker 2: our bloodshot and malnourished eyes in the direction of the

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Speaker 2: drive through Lane this week and taking a good hard

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Speaker 2: look at arguably the most American franchise fast food franchise.

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Speaker 1: And I'll get to that. Nu.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I understand Taco Bell. That's right, folks, we are

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Speaker 2: finally living Moss Bong.

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Speaker 1: More than a year after premiering that joke on our

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Speaker 1: Large Plane episode. We are finally living Moss God bless

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Speaker 1: so happy I didn't have the soundboard app pulled up

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Speaker 1: on my phone.

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Speaker 2: I do believe Taco Bell is the most American franchise,

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Speaker 2: and people would say it's McDonald's, But those people are

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Speaker 2: wrong because McDonald's, despite being the most nakedly atavistic and

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Speaker 2: poisonous of the fast food empire, is not founded on

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Speaker 2: white person theft the same way that Taco Bell is.

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Speaker 2: Nor I would argue, does it have the history of

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Speaker 2: batch innovation? Yeah, that Taco Bell does. And the other

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Speaker 2: thing that I love about Taco Bell is that it's

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Speaker 2: it's it's in theory. And I say this with love.

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Speaker 2: It's the loser, uh fast food franchise right because it's

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it's perennially somewhere in third or fourth place.

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Speaker 2: Its biggest partnership is with Pepsi Forever the Bridesmaid.

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Speaker 1: Oh I thought you. I thought you were referring to

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Speaker 1: the people who go there. Oh, it is very much.

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Speaker 1: I was very much so.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but but it's you know, it's always the bridesmaid,

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Speaker 2: never the bride. It's in bed with PEPSI similarly, and

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Speaker 2: it's the province of late night stoners and vegetarians.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I have a soft spot for it because

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Speaker 1: growing up in central mass Uh, it was kind of

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Speaker 1: the most exotic restaurant in town, right, And I'm sure

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Speaker 1: that's not a unique Yeah, you are not alone, sir.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't. Really.

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Speaker 2: We had a pretty good burrito place shout out to

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Speaker 2: Nito Burrito in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. Yeah, they had this amazing,

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Speaker 2: like massive bison head on the wall that was like

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Speaker 2: they're like.

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Speaker 1: Like arguably as big a draw as the food.

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Speaker 2: I mean, this is like this thing must have been

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Speaker 2: like from eighteen fifty or whatever, like right before massacred

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Speaker 2: all of them. I can't it was like the size

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Speaker 2: of a VW bug. So I can't argue that Taco

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Speaker 2: Bell was my first taste of Mexican food, but it

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Speaker 2: was my most taste of Mexican food, at least until

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Speaker 2: I moved to New York. But I don't know, is

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Speaker 2: there anything else to say about Taco Bell.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I can't emphasize enough how I mean, I

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Speaker 1: remember when this opened in my little town in Massachusetts.

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Speaker 1: They were building it for I mean, I was probably

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Speaker 1: like six at the time, but it felt like years.

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Speaker 1: And it was this crazy because this was back in

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Speaker 1: the early nineties when they looked like an old mission

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Speaker 1: h and so it was this exotic looking building with

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Speaker 1: tiles and the and the roof and all that. And

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Speaker 1: I'll never forget. And we my dad and I and

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Speaker 1: again this is a small town. The day that it opened,

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Speaker 1: we made a point to drive there. And this was

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Speaker 1: like a twenty five minute drive from my house too,

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Speaker 1: but that and we went. We got there, and I

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Speaker 1: will remember, never forget as long as I live. And

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Speaker 1: got out of the car and there's no one in

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Speaker 1: the parking lot. My dad got out, peaked in the window.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't open yet. And that's when I learned about disappointment,

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Speaker 1: which is honestly a great theme for Taco Bell.

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Speaker 2: Wow well from the still in operation San Bernardino, Mexican place,

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Speaker 2: the Taco Bell stole its signature recipe from to the

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Speaker 2: hilariously petty genesis of the chain's beloved Baja Blast Mountain

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Speaker 2: Dew variant to TB's Curious Pride of Place in a

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Speaker 2: Sylvester still own B movie from the nineteen nineties. Here's

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Speaker 2: everything you didn't know about Taco Bell. The story of

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Speaker 2: every Stoner's Late Night Salvation begins with a man named

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Speaker 2: Glenn William Bell Junior.

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Speaker 1: I can't believe his name was Belle. I always assumed

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Speaker 1: it was just named after a mission Bell or something

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Speaker 1: that's incredible. That's the best thing at chain based on

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Speaker 1: stole and named him after himself. Yes, ah, that's why

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Speaker 1: I say it's the most American thing possible. It really is.

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Speaker 2: Bell was born on September twenty third, nineteen twenty three,

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Speaker 2: to Glenn and Ruth Bell. They moved the family from

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Speaker 2: a farm in southern Oregon in nineteen twenty seven and

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Speaker 2: then back to California in the mountains above San Bernardino

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Speaker 2: in nineteen thirty four. Like a lot of people, Glenn

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Speaker 2: and his five siblings were pressed into the group effort

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Speaker 2: to keep the family stable during the depression. Six years

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Speaker 2: after this initial move, Glenn moved for the summer to

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Speaker 2: Washington State to help his great aunt Mary run her bakery,

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Speaker 2: which was a formative experience for the seventeen year old,

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Speaker 2: and one at the end of which they'd earned a

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Speaker 2: remarkable three thousand dollars in what is this nineteen forty

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Speaker 2: month selling pies and puffed.

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Speaker 1: Wheat so pie and rice crispies.

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Speaker 2: Basically yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And this was a step

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Speaker 2: up from just a year before, when, according to his biography,

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Speaker 2: which is called something like Taco King or something Titan

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Speaker 2: Taco Titan, Yes, uh.

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Speaker 1: Your rap name?

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Speaker 2: I believe, he wrote that he'd gone on the bum

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Speaker 2: and ridden the rails in search of work, which are

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Speaker 2: phrases that take on a very different meaning in twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty three.

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Speaker 1: But also equally lucrative.

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Speaker 2: I've ridden some rails in search of work in the

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Speaker 2: New York City media, No, I never had a cocaine problem.

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Speaker 1: Shockingly, his family's not. I'm the one who would sound

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Speaker 1: like they would.

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Speaker 2: Maybe, Yeah, I could see you on like Benny's, like

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Speaker 2: old school, like sixties, like radio DJ Maritha, like eating

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Speaker 2: the Vics.

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Speaker 1: Like the thing behind the inhalo that you would eat. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I don't even know what you're talking about. Now, Oh

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Speaker 1: you know that's how That's how the Beatles used to

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Speaker 1: get high before like everything when they were like teens

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Speaker 1: and when the old vix inhalers there was Ben's a

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Speaker 1: dream like in the back and you would like take

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Speaker 1: it out of the back of the inhaler and eat

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Speaker 1: n't whatever you do with that. Yeah, wow, there's some

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Speaker 1: take home news. That's some news you can use, folks.

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Speaker 1: And addition, is getting sued by Taco Bell for this episode,

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Speaker 1: Canna had vixed the list. Yeah that's wow. God, they

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Speaker 1: used to just put coke and everything right, Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: mean including coke. Just why is Pepsi's second?

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Speaker 2: His family was so poor that he would bitterly recount

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Speaker 2: his embarrassment when a girl at school pointed out that

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Speaker 2: his shirt was made from sewn together cement sacks.

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Speaker 1: Now body would sell those shirts for like seven hundred dollars.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, or like uh or easy That sounds like the

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Speaker 2: new like Easy line, except it has a big schwastik

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Speaker 2: on it.

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Speaker 1: Uh.

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Speaker 2: Bell's early experience with both food and poverty left a

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Speaker 2: big mark on him. His sister remembered to Southern California's

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Speaker 2: Kset in twenty sixteen that he made some mean French fries,

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Speaker 2: and his brother Merrill told the station Glenn used to

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Speaker 2: say when people were about broke with very little money,

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Speaker 2: they would spend their last dime on a hamburger.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I'm sure he made very good French fries.

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Speaker 1: How hard like, how different can you make your French fries?

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Speaker 2: Well, that's my point. I mean, it's just like and

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Speaker 2: that's like poverty food. Like potatoes literally grow in the dirt,

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Speaker 2: disgusting garbage.

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Speaker 1: You cut them and fry them. Yeah, there's nothing oil.

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Speaker 1: You can't put your own unique spin on al of it.

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Speaker 1: That's what's so hilarious.

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Speaker 2: It's just I mean, I put his hard scrabble upbringing

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Speaker 2: makes me slightly charitably inclined towards him, But it is

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Speaker 2: really just the story of lowest common denominator.

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Speaker 1: Uh well, we'll get to that.

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Speaker 2: Bell wound up graduating from San Bernardino High School in

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Speaker 2: nineteen forty one, and he joined the Marines and served

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Speaker 2: in the Pacific Theater of WWII in nineteen five, earning

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Speaker 2: an honorable discharge in nineteen forty six. Apologies to our

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Speaker 2: veteran listeners. According to military dot Com, Bell worked in

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Speaker 2: food while at war. He dealt not with just requisitioning

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Speaker 2: and stalking foods, but cooking serving it to high ranking

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Speaker 2: Army and Navy officers in the Solomon Islands, which was

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Speaker 2: basically his ground up education in how to run a

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Speaker 2: food startup.

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Speaker 1: I love imagining that, Like, high ranking Army and Navy

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Speaker 1: officers got first draft Taco Bell steam that hands. That's incredible. Wit.

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Speaker 1: What article was on military dot com Taco Bells?

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Speaker 2: Like because he was a marine? Because that's the thing

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Speaker 2: is like do they.

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Speaker 1: Have like an article like recalling Taco Bell's early days? Wow,

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Speaker 1: gessny very much.

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Speaker 2: Did you've been in digital media too long to be

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Speaker 2: surprised by that?

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Speaker 1: Right? That's true.

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Speaker 2: So Bell came back to San Bernardino and, noting the

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Speaker 2: success of some other local boys selling burgers out of

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Speaker 2: a little stand called McDonald's, open his own burger joint,

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Speaker 2: Bell's Burgers in March of nineteen forty eight, just four

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Speaker 2: miles south of theirs on the border of San Bernardino

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Speaker 2: and Colton. The New York Times and their obituary notes

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Speaker 2: that this venture came after two other attempts at carving

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Speaker 2: out a living, hauling adobe bricks at five cents each

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Speaker 2: in a surplus army truck that he'd bought and leasing

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Speaker 2: a mini golf course Adobe.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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Speaker 1: That's some Uh, that's the foreshadowing there.

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Speaker 2: Well, think about how the two roads diverged in a

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Speaker 2: wood could have been so different. We could have had

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Speaker 2: Bell's mini golf emporium instead.

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Speaker 1: Wow. So the first McDonald's and the first Taco bell

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Speaker 1: Yesh restaurant, the San Bernardino Medinos. Yeah, ground zero of

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Speaker 1: fast food and a heart disease and the I mean

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Speaker 1: the Inland empire.

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Speaker 2: Baby Bell and the McDonald's were arriving at their fast

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Speaker 2: food ventures just at the dawning of the American fast

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Speaker 2: food era, which grew out of the emerging Southern California

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Speaker 2: car culture, particularly in San Bernardino, which was the last

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Speaker 2: major city stop on America's famed roots sixty six.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know that. I thought it ended at a

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Speaker 1: Santa Monica peer. You had that big sign.

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Speaker 2: I guess that's major shit. Well now I don't know.

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Speaker 2: Hold please, no, I'm not going to look that up.

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Speaker 1: Who gives you? I don't know.

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Speaker 2: San Bernardino vat and Belle was nothing if not industrious.

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Speaker 2: He sold his sister's fridge for seed money, presumably with

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Speaker 2: her consent, and least it twice, all the food on

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Speaker 2: the floor. Glenn and built this stand himself. As he

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Speaker 2: wrote in his biography, I must have looked like I

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Speaker 2: knew what I was doing, because people who saw me

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Speaker 2: work offered construction jobs, and I made a few extra

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Speaker 2: dollars on the side stupid sidebar.

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Speaker 1: In high school, our friend's mom was a real letor

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Speaker 1: I think she still is. Actually I think she listens

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Speaker 1: to this show shout outs. Katie and her mom, Deb

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Speaker 1: had a website called debsoldmihouse dot com, and it became

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Speaker 1: this running joke of like her just selling people's houses.

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Speaker 1: How tapsil my house again?

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Speaker 2: Oh, it's like that Dan Smith will teach you guitar

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Speaker 2: flyers in New York. The guy went around, uh, just

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Speaker 2: putting like Dan Smith, will.

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Speaker 1: You wait that I've never seen?

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Speaker 2: I didn't see those gorilla guerrilla stickers. Uh yeah. Bell's

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Speaker 2: Hamburgers opened in March of nineteen forty eight, and he

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Speaker 2: quickly opened another burger stand at Oak and Mount Vernon

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Speaker 2: in San Bernardino. But the fast food burger market was

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Speaker 2: rapidly hitting a point of oversaturation, and already looking for

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Speaker 2: ways to distinguish himself, he saw how more and more

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Speaker 2: white people in the La sprawl were eating Mexican food,

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Speaker 2: and pitched the idea to his wife. She scoffed, saying

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Speaker 2: that it would never go mainstream because it was too spicy,

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Speaker 2: to which he retorted that he just toned down the heat,

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Speaker 2: to which she responded, well, then Mexicans won't want it.

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Speaker 2: Ah the forties, it's quite like Goalilocks and the Three Bears.

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Speaker 2: Bell's third stand opened in nineteen fifty across the street

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Speaker 2: from a Mexican place and down the street from a

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Speaker 2: tortilla factory, so very centrally located, and he started frequenting

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Speaker 2: his competitor and tried to figure out their secrets. This

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Speaker 2: competitor was the Mitla Cafe. Think that's how you say that,

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Speaker 2: a classic California Mexican restaurant founded by Vicente and Lucia

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Speaker 2: Montano in nineteen thirty seven, and it's still operational.

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Speaker 1: That's so cool. It's the oldest Mexican restaurant in the

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Speaker 1: Inland Empire. And Bell was absolutely transfixed by the lines

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Speaker 1: that formed there for their signature ten cent taco dorados,

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Speaker 1: which was a thinly fried tortilla shell lined with simple

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Speaker 1: meats treaded cheese and dice tomatoes. That bears what you've

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Speaker 1: described as an alarming resemblance to the classic taco bell

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Speaker 1: taco who the thought. Hmm, But Mittler deserves more recognition

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Speaker 1: than just being the place that yet another white guy

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Speaker 1: ripped off at the time. Historian Mark Osaguada, a San

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Speaker 1: Bernardino native, I've told the Bay Areas kalw that the

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Speaker 1: city was strictly divided along racial lines, which I had

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Speaker 1: no idea about. The city restricted Mexicans to living on

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Speaker 1: the west side. There was school segregation, there was segregation

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Speaker 1: in public theaters, in the workplace. At the Santa Fe Railroad,

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Speaker 1: there were Mexican restrooms and white restrooms. I had no

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Speaker 1: idea about any of this. Mexicans were only allowed to

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Speaker 1: pool at the local Paris Park one day out of

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Speaker 1: the week, the day before it was to be drained

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Speaker 1: and cleaned. Oh my god. Super racist.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, dude, this is the hidden the history of southern

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Speaker 2: California is so hateful.

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Speaker 1: Wow. And during this time, the Mittler Cafe became a

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Speaker 1: meeting point for local business leaders, and buoyed by these connections,

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Speaker 1: it evolved into a hub for the brand new Mexican

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Speaker 1: American Defense Committee, who actually sued the city for access

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Speaker 1: to the Paris Park pool. Osagueda said that in nineteen

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Speaker 1: forty four, the decision went in favor of the Mexican

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Speaker 1: American Defense Committee and it desegregated public pools, parks, and

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Speaker 1: recreation facilities for Mexican Americans and the city of San Bernardino,

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Speaker 1: a decision that served as precedent for the case that

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Speaker 1: would desegregate schools in California, and in turn served as

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Speaker 1: precedent for the landmark US Supreme Court decision Brown Versus

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Speaker 1: Board of Education in nineteen fifty four. That's in chat

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Speaker 1: that out.

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Speaker 2: The precedent for Taco Bell arguably has a connection to

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Speaker 2: Brown v.

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Speaker 1: Board of Education. Also, it's amazing that a white person

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Speaker 1: ripped off the place where prown v.

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Speaker 3: Board of Education arguably had as it See, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 3: America is really it's a hell of an American.

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Speaker 2: America's built on racism, unfortunately, in a pattern that has

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Speaker 2: repeated itself over and over again in minority communities across

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Speaker 2: the country. A new highway that only had exits on

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Speaker 2: the east side, towards downtown and away from the immigrant

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Speaker 2: communities on the west side was constructed in San Bernardino

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Speaker 2: and began to isolate the neighborhood. It is astounding how

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Speaker 2: that happens in city planning across the entire country. You

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Speaker 2: see it in New Orleans, with you see it in

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Speaker 2: Austin obviously the big you know Robert Moses and the

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Speaker 2: was it cross Bronx Expressway oh Man Anyway, Eventually western

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Speaker 2: exits were added, but the damage had been done. But

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Speaker 2: Glen Bell was not responsible for this. He was just

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Speaker 2: a different white guy looking to steal something that he

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Speaker 2: hadn't come up with himself. While most tacos and Mexican

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Speaker 2: cooking or soft shell cafe Meatles's tacos dorados were stuffed

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Speaker 2: toothpicked together and then fried, creating their crispy, golden exterior.

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Speaker 2: And that was where Bell saw his opportunity. Instead of

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Speaker 2: frying the shells to order, if he could batch fry

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Speaker 2: a bunch of them in advance, he'd be able to

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Speaker 2: sell exponentially more still and make it slightly worse, yeah, exactly,

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Speaker 2: remove that really bespoke quality to it, and just make

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Speaker 2: it as anonymous as a car production line. So he

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Speaker 2: got in contact with the local guy who made chicken

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Speaker 2: Coops who built him a custom fryer basket out of

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Speaker 2: chicken wire for the shells, and then all these pre

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Speaker 2: fried shells were lined up in a taco rail at

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Speaker 2: the stands counter to make them easy to fill. According

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Speaker 2: to him, the only difference between his filling and the

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Speaker 2: Cafe meatless was that he left out the liquid smoke flavoring,

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Speaker 2: and according to another source I read, which I believe

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Speaker 2: more because it speaks to his laziness, he basically used

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Speaker 2: a slightly modified version of the topping that he was

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Speaker 2: already using on his chili dogs.

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Speaker 1: Great stuff. Liquid smoke. Oh you never heard of liquid smoke? No?

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's a big thing in like in barbecue

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Speaker 1: and such. Wow, that's crazy.

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Speaker 2: It's not actually liquid smoke. It's just like it's like

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Speaker 2: umami flavoring. Oh that's a cool name for a band though.

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Speaker 1: Liquid smoke. Yeah yeah. So is this where hardshell tacos

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Speaker 1: come from? I really I never realized that those are corn?

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Speaker 1: I guess no, there's I mean, there is.

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Speaker 2: They have a precedent in like actual Mexican food, But

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Speaker 2: this is they I mean, this is arguably where they

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Speaker 2: come from.

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Speaker 1: On the on the mass scale. I believe there was.

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Speaker 2: I was getting a little in the weeds with it,

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Speaker 2: and then I stopped caring. So no, I believe, is

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Speaker 2: the short answer to your question. They are made. You know,

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Speaker 2: they do have fried tacos in traditional Mexican cooking. But

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Speaker 2: funnily enough, Bell didn't even invent the mass taco construction

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Speaker 2: mechanism either. He was preempted by Juvencio Maldonado, a Juahacan

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Speaker 2: immigrant living in Manhattan, who created and patented a machine

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Speaker 2: for the construction of multiple hard shell tacos in nineteen fifty.

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Speaker 1: Bell didn't even do that either. Tremendous Here's the real

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Speaker 1: important question for you. You a hartshell guy or a

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Speaker 1: soft shell guy.

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Speaker 2: I'm a soft shell guy because the hard shells are

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Speaker 2: just too crumbly, man, you know, and they cut the

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Speaker 2: roof of my mouth, you know, And so I like

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Speaker 2: just getting a soft show and folding it over on

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Speaker 2: itself and making it as small as possible and then

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Speaker 2: just eating it as few bites as possible and then

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Speaker 2: housing like six of those.

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Speaker 1: I'm a heartshell guy because I like hurting myself.

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Speaker 2: And say, you, big Captain crunch fan, you really just

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Speaker 2: like those gaping wounds on the roof of your mouth, and.

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Speaker 1: Then you have some hot pizza afterwards. Yeah, it's like

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Speaker 1: self branding. That That's one of the more upsetting and

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Speaker 1: not even funny images that I've I've put through in

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Speaker 1: this series, just a real you know, we're doing the

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Speaker 1: Lord's work here. I hurt myself on the roof of

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Speaker 1: my man.

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Speaker 2: As you meditate on that, We'll be right back with

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Speaker 2: more too much information after these messages.

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Speaker 1: Bell's Tacos arrived in December nineteen fifty one, and in

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Speaker 1: a moment Vivid recounted in his biography the aforementioned Taco

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Speaker 1: Titan and that, I mean, I guess what else are

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Speaker 1: you gonna call the founder of Taco Bell's biography, I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's kind of right there, theft Michael. He describes a

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Speaker 1: man in a loud, pinstriped suit approaching and said, give

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Speaker 1: me one of those tacos. Although the taco dripped juice

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Speaker 1: under the guy's suit, which was half the reason that

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00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:32,159
Speaker 1: Bell wanted hard shells, so that they'd be hardier and

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Speaker 1: neater for on the go eating, which is one of

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Speaker 1: the reasons why I'm a hard shell guy. Bell figured

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Speaker 1: that this guy in the suit would want a refund,

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Speaker 1: but instead, even though he just stained his shirt, he

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Speaker 1: ordered seconds a Tacos quickly became a hit, though telling

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Speaker 1: me the Mexicans who did frequent his stand avoided them,

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Speaker 1: preferring the stick with burgers and hot dogs. By nineteen

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Speaker 1: fifty four, Bell was doing well enough that he decided

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Speaker 1: to go as you write, full Mexican and plant open

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Speaker 1: an all Mexican restaurant about a mile from the original McDonald's.

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Speaker 1: That's again, I can't get over. This is the ground

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Speaker 1: zero for fast food in this country. The art student

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Speaker 1: he hired to redress the old diner suggested the name

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Speaker 1: La Tapatilla, a name that sort of is a regional

390
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Speaker 1: reference to the women of Guadalajara and the sort of

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Speaker 1: stereotypically large, dark eyes and flowing hair. Bell's business partner

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Speaker 1: vetoed the idea as too ethnic and pushed for Taco tia,

393
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Speaker 1: a nonsense bastardization of the phrase that means taco on

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Speaker 1: or on taco your mileage may vary. For the grand opening,

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Speaker 1: Bell ordered dozens of palm leaf sombreros with the name

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Speaker 1: on the brim and distributed them around town. He also

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Speaker 1: hired a mariachi band and spotlight. It's like a movie premiere.

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Speaker 1: I'm guessing he was whole hog for the openings.

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Speaker 2: Actually, in this era, people talk about like they every

400
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Speaker 2: time the new Taco Bell opened, it was like a

401
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Speaker 2: town wide event.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I can speak to this. I don't remember

403
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Speaker 1: your didn't have a mariachi band, you know, it may have.

404
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:04,960
Speaker 1: I feel like there were like lots of balloons and

405
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Speaker 1: stuff like. I feel like it was a big deal

406
00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:10,399
Speaker 1: in like nineteen ninety two. So it's just nineteen cents

407
00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:14,000
Speaker 1: of Taco Bell created an instant success, and the restaurant

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Speaker 1: grossed eighty thousand dollars in its first month. That is

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Speaker 1: almost we're gonna do the math on this. Are we

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Speaker 1: I failed at this? Yeah? That was ninety five thousand tacos.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that checks out. I could easily eat one thousand

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Speaker 2: tacos in a month.

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Speaker 1: Really, what is that a day? I said that without

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Speaker 1: actually thinking about it.

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Speaker 2: That's like thirty tacos a day, maybe tenth or maybe

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Speaker 2: five hundred, maybe five hundred a month.

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Speaker 1: So all right, so if there were one hundred and

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Speaker 1: eighty U yeah, that would be okay? All right? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Uh two years and three taco teas later, Bell sold

420
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Speaker 2: his interest after his business partner bulked at further expansion.

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Speaker 2: Coward and he opened another fast food restaurant in Pasadena

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Speaker 2: in nineteen fifty seven, and a year later took on

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Speaker 2: three partners in a chain called El Taco. He also

424
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Speaker 2: helped his friend John Gallardi open the first Wiener Schnitzel,

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Speaker 2: which I did not know about, but is just a

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Speaker 2: German focused fast food place. Regional, regional, not national, might

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Speaker 2: be might be national.

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Speaker 1: No, it is it, it is it? Oh my god.

429
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Speaker 1: The logo was designed by Saul Bass, who did all

430
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Speaker 1: those movie posters.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just hot dogs. Yeah, it's mostly they're only

432
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:36,639
Speaker 2: old a friend, it's mostly California and Texas anyway. One

433
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Speaker 2: of Bell's first employees and partners was ed Hackbarth, who

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Speaker 2: would go on to found the popular del Taco chain.

435
00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:44,399
Speaker 1: El Taco.

436
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:46,919
Speaker 2: The chain was opened with some former NFL players and

437
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:48,520
Speaker 2: Bing Crosby's son Phil.

438
00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:54,400
Speaker 1: So was that the one he beat? Almost certainly? No, Yeah,

439
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,280
Speaker 1: there was one that he didn't. Oh that's nice. Maybe

440
00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:00,320
Speaker 1: he was like, okay, you you're a taco ta and

441
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,520
Speaker 1: you can get over it. I see great things for

442
00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:08,959
Speaker 1: you wow dark. But by nineteen sixty two Bell had

443
00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:12,280
Speaker 1: enough capital in Cloud to do things fully himself and

444
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:17,359
Speaker 1: found this opportunity on Firestone Boulevard in Downey, California, hometown

445
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:21,760
Speaker 1: of the Carpenters. You mentioned the Carpenters on the last

446
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,399
Speaker 1: episode with Barbie Girl. Bell built a courtyard of open

447
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:28,960
Speaker 1: air shops that he called Plaza Guadalajara, one of which

448
00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:31,800
Speaker 1: was a small South of the Borders style food stand

449
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:36,399
Speaker 1: designed by architect Robert McKay. That bore the name and

450
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:40,440
Speaker 1: you say it in reverent tones, Taco Bell Boom. It

451
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 1: wasn't that, reverend. I've been teased about my name since

452
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 1: I was a kid, Glenn said, Ding Dong Bell, that

453
00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:50,480
Speaker 1: sort of thing he's writing in his biography. This gave

454
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:54,200
Speaker 1: the name a positive ring, no pun intended. Oh he's good.

455
00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,399
Speaker 1: The architect, Robert McKay took that aspect in with it.

456
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:05,119
Speaker 1: He designed a California Spanish style mission motif for the restaurant, arched,

457
00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,320
Speaker 1: tiled and topped with the rooftop Bell, along with an

458
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,359
Speaker 1: outdoor seating area built around the fire pit. That's cool.

459
00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:15,120
Speaker 1: Bell eventually hired McKay to be the president of Taco Bell,

460
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,880
Speaker 1: and he closed his architecture firm and went, as you say,

461
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:24,840
Speaker 1: full taco. I here's a question, go on, does running

462
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:28,320
Speaker 1: an architect firm qualify you to be president of a

463
00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:29,280
Speaker 1: fast food company.

464
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:32,880
Speaker 2: I mean it's all just giving yourself raises and delegating

465
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:35,760
Speaker 2: all the actual work to like people below you. Right,

466
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:38,040
Speaker 2: that's what Amery Ceo does.

467
00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:45,640
Speaker 1: Taco Bell at its outset only sold five items. That's incredible, tacos, tostados, burritos,

468
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:49,480
Speaker 1: chili burgers, and a side of pinto beans. But even

469
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:51,720
Speaker 1: with this fairly limited menu, it did well enough that

470
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:55,159
Speaker 1: the first franchise was open in nineteen sixty five, with

471
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,600
Speaker 1: this one hundredth in Anaheim joining the family in nineteen

472
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,840
Speaker 1: sixty seven. That's in two years they opened up one

473
00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 1: hundred well ninety eight stores.

474
00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:08,119
Speaker 2: People love tacos, man, especially cheap white person ones.

475
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:12,560
Speaker 1: It's bonkers. Ten years later, in nineteen seventy seven, there

476
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,520
Speaker 1: were seven hundred and fifty nine Taco Bells and thirty

477
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:18,560
Speaker 1: eight states, and a year later, when Pepsi Co. Bought

478
00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:21,000
Speaker 1: the chain for one hundred and twenty five million, there

479
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:24,480
Speaker 1: were eight hundred and thirty eight. Now, I had no

480
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:28,080
Speaker 1: idea until you told me this recently that Pepsi owns

481
00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 1: Taco bell I wanted to tell us a little bit

482
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 1: about how the sugar water people bought the crappy white

483
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:35,560
Speaker 1: people Taco Place. Well.

484
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,080
Speaker 2: To contextualize the Pepsi purchase, we've got to do a

485
00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,600
Speaker 2: brief digression on the cola wars. This is going to

486
00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:43,520
Speaker 2: get a little in the weeds here, folks, but just

487
00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:46,040
Speaker 2: bear with us. It's the team, it's the Tea tom

488
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:46,480
Speaker 2: My brand.

489
00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:47,840
Speaker 1: It's interesting. I like this.

490
00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 2: In eighteen eighty six, a pharmacist in Atlanta, Georgia named

491
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:54,600
Speaker 2: John S. Pemberton created coke as bottled medicine.

492
00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:56,679
Speaker 1: It's like a euphemism for booze.

493
00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,959
Speaker 2: I mean, it did have cocaine in it. In North Carolina,

494
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,520
Speaker 2: pharmacist Caleb Bradham, a slave owner's name if I've ever

495
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:09,640
Speaker 2: heard one, introduced Brad's Drink in eighteen ninety three. It's

496
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:13,480
Speaker 2: so the most perfect name is yes, exactly, It's the

497
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:19,680
Speaker 2: perfect Coke Pepsi relationship. Coca Cola an iconic, vaguely mysterious

498
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 2: sounding semi medicinal thing that becomes synonymous with America and

499
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:25,359
Speaker 2: its competitor, Brad's Drink.

500
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:31,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the George Carlin's routine. Uh it wait.

501
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,560
Speaker 2: Became Pepsi, from a Greek word meaning digestion in eighteen

502
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:36,920
Speaker 2: ninety eight. Coke had a head start. By the time

503
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:40,600
Speaker 2: Pepsi debuted, they were selling over a million gallons a year,

504
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,840
Speaker 2: and in a more preternatural marketing sense, Coke was also

505
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,480
Speaker 2: courting celebrity and athlete sponsors and already using Santa in

506
00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:49,400
Speaker 2: its ad campaign.

507
00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,639
Speaker 1: Thinking of gallons of coke is just so gross. I

508
00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:56,879
Speaker 1: just don't like measuring coke and gallons. Buddy.

509
00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:58,720
Speaker 2: You had never worked in food service. You never got

510
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 2: the big bags of the syrup. I know I was

511
00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:03,480
Speaker 2: an ice cream I was an ice cream man.

512
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:07,399
Speaker 1: I'm an oil. I'm an ice cream man. Ladies and gentlemen.

513
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:08,879
Speaker 1: If I tell you I'm an ice cream man, you

514
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:09,480
Speaker 1: will believe me.

515
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:15,640
Speaker 3: AhR Daniel playing for your voice is so good.

516
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:20,439
Speaker 2: If I'd say I'm a taco man, you will believe me.

517
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:25,239
Speaker 2: Pepsi almost went bankrupt as a matter of fact, as

518
00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:28,320
Speaker 2: a result of sugar rationing in World War Two, and Coke,

519
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:33,159
Speaker 2: in an act of astounding pettiness, twice rejected their offer

520
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 2: to acquire the company as some dude put it in

521
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,880
Speaker 2: his viral rant from earlier this year. Pepsi's unofficial slogan

522
00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:42,600
Speaker 2: for most of the twentieth century was is Pepsi Okay?

523
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,480
Speaker 2: Because its biggest selling point on the market was that

524
00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:48,320
Speaker 2: it was cheaper for restaurants to stock than coke, so

525
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,520
Speaker 2: people asking for a coke were often confronted by that

526
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:54,880
Speaker 2: question by servers, and as you pointed out a sketch

527
00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:01,200
Speaker 2: also memorialized in the uh semi racist Greek restaurant bit.

528
00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 1: From early no coke pepsi yeah yeah.

529
00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:07,320
Speaker 2: So by the nineteen sixties, realizing that it was a

530
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,680
Speaker 2: disgusting sugar drink fit only for the smaller birds, Pepsi

531
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,120
Speaker 2: knew that it couldn't beat coke on taste alone, and

532
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:17,360
Speaker 2: decided to pivot to market dominance, merging with Frido Lay

533
00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:20,160
Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty five in one of the biggest food

534
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:24,280
Speaker 2: and beverage mergers of the century. But the FTC slapped

535
00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:27,360
Speaker 2: rules on this merger, mandating in nineteen sixty eight that

536
00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:31,120
Speaker 2: the newly created Pepsi Co. Could not create advertising tie

537
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,360
Speaker 2: ins between Pepsi and any of its salty snack arsenal

538
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:38,520
Speaker 2: and crucially, and here's the rub, barring them from quote

539
00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:42,080
Speaker 2: acquiring any snack or soft drink maker for a period

540
00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 2: of ten years. So naturally they turned their eyes to

541
00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:52,040
Speaker 2: fast food, where again Coke was ahead. In nineteen fifty five,

542
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:55,080
Speaker 2: Ray Kroc, who is not the McDonald's founder but the

543
00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,200
Speaker 2: guy who created who turned it into the juggernaut it

544
00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:01,800
Speaker 2: is today, had approached coc about joining with him in

545
00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:05,840
Speaker 2: his expansion of McDonald's, and Coke agreed. The two have

546
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 2: a symbiotic relationship. As McDonald's expanded globally, it often operated

547
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:14,200
Speaker 2: out of Coca Cola's local offices as a base of operations.

548
00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 2: Coke is also prohibited from selling its products to other

549
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:21,400
Speaker 2: restaurants for less than what McDonald's pays, and crucially, coke

550
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:25,200
Speaker 2: product syrup is delivered to McDonald's in these enormous stainless

551
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,640
Speaker 2: steel tanks that make it a nightmare for the workers,

552
00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:33,400
Speaker 2: as opposed to plasticine bags that the other soda syrups

553
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,479
Speaker 2: are delivered in. You don't get soda in its finished

554
00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:38,880
Speaker 2: form in restaurants for anyone who's never worked in restaurants.

555
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,280
Speaker 2: You get the concentrated syrup, and then you have a

556
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:46,160
Speaker 2: Seltzer line that combines them and most fast food, most

557
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 2: most soda syrups are delivered in these gross, gelatinous bags.

558
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:55,880
Speaker 2: Coke comes in these enormous stainless steel containers. That is

559
00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:58,960
Speaker 2: the reason when people describe McDonald's coke and sprite in

560
00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:05,640
Speaker 2: terms like crispy and ultrapotent. That's supposedly why so ten

561
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:08,400
Speaker 2: years after muscling its way into the snack market and

562
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:11,760
Speaker 2: being prohibited from expanding further in that market by the FEDS,

563
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:15,760
Speaker 2: PEPSI turned got a foothold in fast food. They acquired

564
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:18,280
Speaker 2: Pizza Hut in nineteen seventy seven and Taco Bell in

565
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:21,520
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy eight. Now next, they supposedly had their sites

566
00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:24,200
Speaker 2: set on Wendy's, pursuing Wendy's for the better part of

567
00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 2: a decade, but they eventually settled on KFC to complete

568
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:31,160
Speaker 2: their unholy trifecta in nineteen eighty five, when Nabisco offered

569
00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:35,200
Speaker 2: them a firesale price hilariously, in a move that seems

570
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:39,760
Speaker 2: primarily motivated out of spite, when the KFC sale was announced,

571
00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:42,000
Speaker 2: Wendy's responded by announcing.

572
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,400
Speaker 1: That they were switching over to Coca Cola.

573
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,600
Speaker 2: I just I love all this stuff because of how

574
00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:52,360
Speaker 2: Apex petty all of it seems to be. This unholy

575
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:56,160
Speaker 2: trio were then spun off into Yum with an exclamation

576
00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:00,760
Speaker 2: mark Brands by PepsiCo in ninety seven. This was because

577
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:05,080
Speaker 2: after a decade or so, supposedly this whole expansion thing

578
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:08,880
Speaker 2: really failed to net them any actual market gains or

579
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,800
Speaker 2: help them make any inroads against Coca Cola, so they

580
00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:13,600
Speaker 2: decided to spin its off into its own thing.

581
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:14,920
Speaker 1: Now.

582
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 2: The YOUM Brands move attained new level of at least

583
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,800
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three internet based notoriety earlier this year when

584
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:25,520
Speaker 2: a TikToker named Alexander Pearlman had a viral rant about

585
00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:31,280
Speaker 2: Young Brands and PepsiCo, essentially positing that the entire KFC,

586
00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:36,160
Speaker 2: Taco Bell, Pizza Hut combination restaurant things that you see

587
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:38,200
Speaker 2: in some of the finer strip malls across this great

588
00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:42,880
Speaker 2: country is a ploy to save costs on real estate

589
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:47,400
Speaker 2: and operational costs, which makes sense, but that the company

590
00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:51,360
Speaker 2: then parlayed all of their savings into anti worker legislation,

591
00:32:53,400 --> 00:33:00,280
Speaker 2: lobbying Congress to battle minimum wage raises, hourly breaks of

592
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:05,280
Speaker 2: that nature. And this is broadly true according to OpenSecrets

593
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 2: dot org, which tracks lobbying costs. Young Brands has been

594
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:12,120
Speaker 2: putting most of its lobbying money, which for just last

595
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:16,480
Speaker 2: year was over one and a half million, towards labor issues. Initially,

596
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:19,920
Speaker 2: when Open Secrets started tracking them in the late nineties,

597
00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:23,240
Speaker 2: they started out evenly lobbying on taxes and the broader

598
00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:27,360
Speaker 2: category of labor, antitrust, and workplace. But since then they

599
00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,640
Speaker 2: have shifted the majority of their money towards those issues.

600
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:32,800
Speaker 2: How's all that strike you? See?

601
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,360
Speaker 1: This is what I love about whenever we tackle and

602
00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:37,920
Speaker 1: they're usually I mean, they're always your episodes sort of

603
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:40,720
Speaker 1: broader things like I remember the bikini episode had like

604
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 1: you giving a really interesting history lesson on the rise

605
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,640
Speaker 1: of the suburbs and pool culture and how that made

606
00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:51,480
Speaker 1: bikinish more of a thing. You always take it to

607
00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:54,400
Speaker 1: a very interesting, very academic place that I never would expect.

608
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:58,120
Speaker 1: I always go to the little anecdotes, the little human anecdotes,

609
00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:00,800
Speaker 1: but you always give these great sociological histories, and I

610
00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:03,240
Speaker 1: really I always feel like I'm just listening to you

611
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:05,720
Speaker 1: give a really great lecture. And I mean that in

612
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:06,240
Speaker 1: a nice thing.

613
00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:11,000
Speaker 2: And that's the TMI promise, deflating all of those nice

614
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,200
Speaker 2: things you said. The only reason I know anything about

615
00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:17,759
Speaker 2: this is because of Dos Racists semi immortal hit combination

616
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:19,200
Speaker 2: Pizza Hut and Taco.

617
00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:22,040
Speaker 1: Bell song which Jordan will punch in now.

618
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:29,040
Speaker 2: Ham Pizza Hut Chaco Bell at the combination Pizza Hutt

619
00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:31,160
Speaker 2: and Taco Bell comment.

620
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:37,320
Speaker 1: The Pizza Hut what Amazaco Paul's for Dos Racist.

621
00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:44,000
Speaker 2: So that's the history of PEPSI owning Taco Bell, KFC

622
00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:47,839
Speaker 2: and Pizza Hut and combining them all into one brick

623
00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:52,640
Speaker 2: and mortar place, and also UH lobbying Congress for the

624
00:34:52,640 --> 00:35:00,720
Speaker 2: better part of two decades to over the little guy Bong. Also,

625
00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:02,759
Speaker 2: around this time, we can thank Taco Bell for the

626
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:05,400
Speaker 2: first ever recall of genetically modified food?

627
00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:07,920
Speaker 1: Did you know that by that? I didn't know that.

628
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:10,160
Speaker 2: This was in September of two thousand, when up to

629
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:13,440
Speaker 2: fifty million dollars worth of Taco Bell branded shells were

630
00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,840
Speaker 2: recalled from supermarkets because they contained a variety of genetically

631
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:21,759
Speaker 2: modified corn called starlink that was not approved for human consumption.

632
00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:24,160
Speaker 2: It's not as bad as you seemed. They basically just

633
00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:26,120
Speaker 2: didn't know if it was going to cause allergic reactions.

634
00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:28,560
Speaker 2: I just find it hilarious. That we can trace the

635
00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:32,279
Speaker 2: first ever recall of GMO's to Taco Bell, and that

636
00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:34,640
Speaker 2: it was for a product called Starlink.

637
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:39,520
Speaker 1: We are eating, you can't eat something called starlink.

638
00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:42,120
Speaker 2: That it does sound like like the communications device that

639
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:44,120
Speaker 2: they'd use in like a like we got to upload

640
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:45,920
Speaker 2: the plans for the base into starlink.

641
00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:50,280
Speaker 1: Nope, isn't that the communication system Elon Musk communication system

642
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:55,359
Speaker 1: that the Titans sub used? Jesus Christ, that's I think

643
00:35:55,400 --> 00:36:02,160
Speaker 1: it was. You would know. Yeah, that's the Yeah, it's spacing.

644
00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:06,359
Speaker 1: It's a SpaceX property. Wow, that's hilarious. Do you think

645
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:08,719
Speaker 1: it was more successful or I guess? I guess we

646
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:12,040
Speaker 1: can't blame the sub disaster on start Link any lot

647
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:15,080
Speaker 1: Musk try as we might. We'll get there. Give me

648
00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:16,399
Speaker 1: long enough and we'll get there.

649
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:20,400
Speaker 2: So with all of that dry corporate intrigue and white

650
00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:22,360
Speaker 2: people theft out of the way, let's get into the

651
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:25,600
Speaker 2: real eighty eight percent meat of the episode, the food.

652
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:29,279
Speaker 2: Rather than going through the entirety of the Taco Bell menu,

653
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:31,880
Speaker 2: which is a different podcast and one that I'm sure exists,

654
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:33,920
Speaker 2: We're gonna go with two of their most beloved offerings,

655
00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:38,760
Speaker 2: starting with possibly the most bizarre one, the Mexican Pizza.

656
00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:41,880
Speaker 2: Mexican Pizza came on to Taco Bell's proverbial scene in

657
00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:46,319
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty five, dubbed Pizzaz Pizza. Some sources say that

658
00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:49,440
Speaker 2: it did hit some test markets under the name Mexican Pizza,

659
00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:51,600
Speaker 2: but in nineteen eighty six they were sued by another

660
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:53,960
Speaker 2: pizza brand called Pizzaz Pizza.

661
00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:56,080
Speaker 1: I just love saying that. Yeah.

662
00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:58,880
Speaker 2: An iconic commercial for Mexican Pizza hit the airwaves in

663
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:02,560
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty eight that the item was like pizza, but

664
00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:03,360
Speaker 2: it's different.

665
00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:09,880
Speaker 1: That was in the app. Yeah, we're making pizza, Mexican Pizza.

666
00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:12,480
Speaker 1: It's like pizza, but it's different.

667
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,279
Speaker 2: Knowing all of this iconic stuff that Taco Bell is

668
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:21,200
Speaker 2: like the Taco Bell Dog, all these great ad campaigns,

669
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 2: and back in nineteen eighty six they were swinging for

670
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:26,800
Speaker 2: the fences with It's like pizza, but It's different.

671
00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:29,319
Speaker 1: That commercial was notable.

672
00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:31,800
Speaker 2: For showing the inclusion of black olives and green onions,

673
00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,520
Speaker 2: which Thrillist in their History of the food Stuff confirmed

674
00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:38,480
Speaker 2: were removed in the early nineties and mid two thousands

675
00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:43,200
Speaker 2: early double lotts, respectively. In two thousand and six, it

676
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:45,400
Speaker 2: was reported that green onions were being removed from all

677
00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:47,280
Speaker 2: of the items on the Taco Bell menu in response

678
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:47,680
Speaker 2: to an.

679
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:52,239
Speaker 1: E Coli outbreak. Great stuff now go on. Taco Bell

680
00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:54,680
Speaker 1: has long been a bastion for vegetarians in the fast

681
00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:57,960
Speaker 1: food world because its options can be made vegetarians simply

682
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:02,440
Speaker 1: by subbing in black beans animal protein. In particular, the

683
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,080
Speaker 1: Mexican pizza has been identified as a favorite of the

684
00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:08,520
Speaker 1: South Asian community, which is why when Taco Bell streamlined

685
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:11,960
Speaker 1: its menu in September twenty twenty and remove the Mexican pizza,

686
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,359
Speaker 1: a change dot org petition to bring it back, which

687
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:19,799
Speaker 1: was spearheaded by a man named Chris Jagadar, obtained over

688
00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:24,520
Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy one thousand signatures. Jagudar told Thrillist,

689
00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:26,840
Speaker 1: I think that the Mexican pizza and Taco Bell in

690
00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:29,400
Speaker 1: particular has such a strong bond and tie with the

691
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:32,680
Speaker 1: South Asian community. It was really the only accessible fast

692
00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:36,360
Speaker 1: food that a lot of Indian Americans had access to. Again,

693
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:38,799
Speaker 1: it was really this amazing opportunity for people like us

694
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:42,600
Speaker 1: who are vegetarian to really kind of substitute really anything

695
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:46,080
Speaker 1: on the menu and still have this really fun tasty experience.

696
00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:51,600
Speaker 1: That's a very generous description of going to a Taco Bell. Meanwhile,

697
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,520
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one, Doja Cat, friend of the pod

698
00:38:54,719 --> 00:39:00,680
Speaker 1: Doja Cat, tweeted that she wanted quote Mexican pizza backiously enough,

699
00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:03,560
Speaker 1: she would later preempt Taco Bell's announcement that the pizza

700
00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:07,080
Speaker 1: was returning in April twenty twenty two, when on April seventeenth,

701
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:10,400
Speaker 1: during her Coachella performance, she announced in the middle of

702
00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:13,839
Speaker 1: a song, I brought back the Mexican pizza. By the way,

703
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:18,920
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of a you couldn't. You couldn't

704
00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:22,160
Speaker 1: mad libs. You couldn't mad libs this whole thing together. No,

705
00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:26,439
Speaker 1: Taco Bell made their own announcement with Doja as part

706
00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:29,480
Speaker 1: of the campaign the day after, and they also signed

707
00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:33,799
Speaker 1: Jaguar's Change dot org petition, which was very nice of them. Yeah,

708
00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:35,920
Speaker 1: they threw him a little bow man. Yeah yeah, Oh

709
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:37,600
Speaker 1: that's offensive because it's vegetarian.

710
00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:40,440
Speaker 2: They didn't. They threw him some black beans. There is

711
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:43,920
Speaker 2: that worse? Can we get the lawyers in line?

712
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:47,879
Speaker 1: I feel like they other guy. You know, Chipotle has

713
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:50,640
Speaker 1: like the celebrity card that comes in like an engraved

714
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:53,719
Speaker 1: wooden box that they send out to Brad Paisley or

715
00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:56,719
Speaker 1: whoever the hell and and it entitles you to I

716
00:39:56,760 --> 00:40:01,239
Speaker 1: think Jeff Tweety of Wilco was interviewed about it how

717
00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:04,440
Speaker 1: on Conan or something where he or Seth Myers or

718
00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:07,520
Speaker 1: something where it entitles you to free Chipotlet forever. I

719
00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:11,120
Speaker 1: think that that's what That's what Doja got done. Oh

720
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:15,279
Speaker 1: Doja and the change Jagedar, Yeah, both earned like free

721
00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:19,240
Speaker 1: Taco Bell forever. The initial return of the Mexican Pizza

722
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,759
Speaker 1: was so rapturously received that Taco Bell actually had to

723
00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:26,320
Speaker 1: pull the item again after its initial return because it

724
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 1: was experiencing supply shortages. Apparently, one customer bought one hundred

725
00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:35,600
Speaker 1: and eighty pizzas in one order. The Mexican pizza then

726
00:40:35,719 --> 00:40:38,000
Speaker 1: made its permanent return to the Taco Bell menu in

727
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:41,720
Speaker 1: September twenty twenty two, helped along by a Mexican pizza

728
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:48,040
Speaker 1: musical on TikTok performed by Dolly Parton, which, if I

729
00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:50,719
Speaker 1: didn't know you better, I would assume you made that up.

730
00:40:53,719 --> 00:40:57,960
Speaker 2: So pivoting to the beverage segment of the menu, we

731
00:40:58,000 --> 00:40:59,600
Speaker 2: didn't even get into it. I didn't, I didn't make

732
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:04,239
Speaker 2: time for that the cinnamon chiloupas who cares stay on topic,

733
00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:08,240
Speaker 2: Alex stand topic. The chain's iconic Mountain dew. Baja Blast

734
00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:12,439
Speaker 2: variant meanwhile, came about in the nineteen nineties, again out

735
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:16,640
Speaker 2: of failure. Taco Bell saw their soda sales falling precipitously,

736
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:18,960
Speaker 2: which is one of the areas where every single restaurant

737
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:23,680
Speaker 2: typically sees an enormous margin. The company's former chief marketing officer,

738
00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:27,520
Speaker 2: Greg Creed told comicbook dot Com for their astounding oral

739
00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:30,960
Speaker 2: history of Baja Blast, we tried to get to the

740
00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:33,319
Speaker 2: bottom of why that was, and the answer was because

741
00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:36,799
Speaker 2: a lot of young people, teenagers, young adults. Their response was, well,

742
00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:38,920
Speaker 2: I've got a free drink at home because mom and

743
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:41,920
Speaker 2: dad have been out to Walmart or Costco or Kroger,

744
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:47,680
Speaker 2: which is an astoundingly price and budget conscious decision for

745
00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:51,480
Speaker 2: the American teenager in the nineteen nineties. So God, this

746
00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:54,600
Speaker 2: is maybe my favorite anecdote for the entire episode. Taco

747
00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:57,600
Speaker 2: Bell's response was to reach out to Pepsi in two

748
00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:01,000
Speaker 2: thousand and two, who you remember, had just spun Taco

749
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:04,840
Speaker 2: Bell out of its friendly sugary bosom in nineteen ninety

750
00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:07,640
Speaker 2: seven and say to them, will you please help us

751
00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:11,279
Speaker 2: create a Taco Bell exclusive drink. I remember being in

752
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:15,040
Speaker 2: that meeting. Creed said. They were like, yeah, no, I

753
00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:17,480
Speaker 2: don't really think so we don't really do that, and

754
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:19,760
Speaker 2: you guys will probably only support it for like six

755
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:22,000
Speaker 2: months and then it'll go away, and it's a lot

756
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:27,760
Speaker 2: of work. So hilariously, Taco Bell, and presumably an actual

757
00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:30,319
Speaker 2: light bulb moment accompanied by the sound of the bell,

758
00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:35,239
Speaker 2: decided that turnabout was fair play. And since they thought

759
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:38,080
Speaker 2: to themselves, well, we're no longer part of Pepsi, what

760
00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:41,799
Speaker 2: if we switched to Coke, they played hardball with their

761
00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:46,239
Speaker 2: parent company. They threatened to drop Pepsi and go with

762
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:50,440
Speaker 2: Coke at all of their locations. Dave Berwick, who is

763
00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:53,120
Speaker 2: Pepsi Co's chief marketer from two thousand and two to

764
00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:56,680
Speaker 2: two thousand and five, told comicbook dot Com, I can't

765
00:42:56,719 --> 00:42:59,680
Speaker 2: remember the moment when we decided to partner with them.

766
00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:04,480
Speaker 2: Taco Bell were very persistent. I remember that just a

767
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:06,959
Speaker 2: really nice way of saying they were playing super hard

768
00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:09,640
Speaker 2: ball with us, and we thought, you know what, we

769
00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:12,080
Speaker 2: can justify this because Taco Bell and Mountain Dew go

770
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:14,719
Speaker 2: so well together, and Taco Bell is willing to do

771
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:17,319
Speaker 2: so much behind this that I don't think any other

772
00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:19,560
Speaker 2: customer is going to be willing to do what they're

773
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:23,680
Speaker 2: going to do. Taco Bell had, hilariously their site set

774
00:43:23,719 --> 00:43:27,520
Speaker 2: on Mountain Dew from the very beginning. The hateful beverages

775
00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:30,320
Speaker 2: code red variant had just become a huge hit across

776
00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:32,800
Speaker 2: the nation, and because all of these people should be

777
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:36,040
Speaker 2: first against the wall and under the guillotine, they decided

778
00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:38,640
Speaker 2: to name and color their variant after the crystal blue

779
00:43:38,680 --> 00:43:42,239
Speaker 2: waters of Mexico's Baja Peninsula, where Pepsi and Taco Bell

780
00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:45,560
Speaker 2: execs took a retreat i e. A golf and beach

781
00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:49,319
Speaker 2: and alcohol vacation to Cabo San Lucas. That was an

782
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:51,719
Speaker 2: all expenses paid thing, presumably, and this was the only

783
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:53,919
Speaker 2: actual work any of these people did was just name

784
00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:57,880
Speaker 2: the thing there. God, I hate business people. The drink, however,

785
00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:00,719
Speaker 2: almost wasn't actually blue flavored. It was supposed to be

786
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:03,880
Speaker 2: a straight up lime version, but Mountain Dew was independently

787
00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:06,960
Speaker 2: in the process of creating its own new variant, Live Wire,

788
00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:11,600
Speaker 2: which leaned towards the citrus taste portfolio. Whatever exactly you

789
00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:14,720
Speaker 2: could call the end result of Baja Blast. The results

790
00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:19,479
Speaker 2: were unmistakable. It has actually increased in sales every year.

791
00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:22,520
Speaker 2: It's been available at Taco Bell since I think two

792
00:44:22,560 --> 00:44:25,800
Speaker 2: thousand and five, and the chain in Mountain Dew reached

793
00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:27,960
Speaker 2: an agreement that would let them bottle and sell the

794
00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:31,959
Speaker 2: drink outside of the Bell during the summer months. That's

795
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:35,000
Speaker 2: how crazily successful it was. Name another product, I mean,

796
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:38,640
Speaker 2: it's nuts. One viral TikTok though, did suggest that it's

797
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:41,400
Speaker 2: just regular Mountain Dew with a splash of blue power

798
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,920
Speaker 2: aid added, which is hilarious and probably true.

799
00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:49,080
Speaker 1: I've never had it, really, Yeah, this name means nothing

800
00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:51,560
Speaker 1: to me. Oh, but you're a soda boy. Oh, Baja

801
00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:54,000
Speaker 1: Blast is so good. Yeah. I don't think I've ever

802
00:44:54,040 --> 00:44:56,279
Speaker 1: even I must have heard of it somehow, But it

803
00:44:56,320 --> 00:44:58,840
Speaker 1: was really when you were pitching this, you know what, Bud,

804
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:03,360
Speaker 1: what's that treat yourself? I didn't even take it.

805
00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:06,400
Speaker 2: Take a little, take a little, take a little Jordan moment,

806
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:10,319
Speaker 2: Taco Bell. I'm actually looking it up right now, bush Wick. Ooh,

807
00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:12,720
Speaker 2: we have a Taco Bell cantina near us in Berkeley.

808
00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:16,400
Speaker 2: I didn't even cover the Taco Bell cantina oh, bud,

809
00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:19,160
Speaker 2: there's one at that one on Grand You got a

810
00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:22,560
Speaker 2: cantina near you right off Gates what?

811
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:25,280
Speaker 1: I don't know that anyway.

812
00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:28,439
Speaker 2: The success of Baja Blast paved the way for another

813
00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:33,560
Speaker 2: iconic Taco Bell collab, the Doritos Loco taco, which ports

814
00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:36,360
Speaker 2: the classic TB taco to a shell dusted with the

815
00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:41,160
Speaker 2: iconic Nacho cheese Dorito's dust, which earned Taco Bell one

816
00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:45,239
Speaker 2: billion dollars in its first year on the market. Those

817
00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:49,719
Speaker 2: things are good as hell, though, uh Creed told comicbook

818
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 2: dot Com, I'm convinced if we had not made Baja Blast,

819
00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:56,879
Speaker 2: there would be no Doritos Locos tacos. Because it's one

820
00:45:56,880 --> 00:45:59,560
Speaker 2: thing to let us play with mountain dew, it's another

821
00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:03,080
Speaker 2: thing to us play with Dorrito's. Hell of a quote.

822
00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:05,960
Speaker 2: You will remember that Dorita's is free to lay product

823
00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:10,960
Speaker 2: on merger pepsi, so they would add cool ranch flavored

824
00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:12,000
Speaker 2: tacos later.

825
00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:14,520
Speaker 1: That sound I don't like that. That doesn't sound good.

826
00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:18,160
Speaker 2: It isn't as good as the Nacha cheese flavored one

827
00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:21,480
Speaker 2: because ranch is a is sort of a strange bedfellow

828
00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:24,520
Speaker 2: with Yeah, yeah, oh.

829
00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:26,719
Speaker 1: I guess it kind of has the sour cream. Yeah,

830
00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:29,120
Speaker 1: you got that ze to it. I don't know. I'm more,

831
00:46:29,840 --> 00:46:32,160
Speaker 1: but I understand that as well with I mean, that's

832
00:46:32,160 --> 00:46:33,640
Speaker 1: the thing with the movie in Mexican food. I don't

833
00:46:33,640 --> 00:46:36,120
Speaker 1: like cheese, I don't like sour cream, I don't like Yeah,

834
00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:37,719
Speaker 1: I don't really like spice that much.

835
00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:41,720
Speaker 2: How can I get some case of Baja Blast sentience?

836
00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:43,759
Speaker 2: You must be able to you have to, Oh, I

837
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:47,719
Speaker 2: very much can't. Yeah, oh, but six seventy eight from Walmart.

838
00:46:48,200 --> 00:46:50,359
Speaker 2: I can pay six seventy eight for a twelve pack.

839
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:53,000
Speaker 2: What is shipping? Shipping is going to be like what

840
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:57,839
Speaker 2: twelve dollars? We're killing the planet for this. I can

841
00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:01,839
Speaker 2: get this ship right to you. Oh oh, pickup is free.

842
00:47:02,480 --> 00:47:05,320
Speaker 1: Penny fans want to send Hegel a case of Baja Blast.

843
00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:08,279
Speaker 1: I know it'll make them because I haven't been paying

844
00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:08,800
Speaker 1: them lately.

845
00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:13,160
Speaker 2: So I gotta make this episode earned me a twelve

846
00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:14,440
Speaker 2: pack of Baha Blast.

847
00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:18,920
Speaker 4: We're gonna take a quick break, but we'll be right

848
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:38,000
Speaker 4: back with more too much information in just a moment, all.

849
00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:40,000
Speaker 2: Right, closing in on the end here, Yes, as we

850
00:47:40,040 --> 00:47:44,640
Speaker 2: move from the real world to the realer world, the

851
00:47:44,680 --> 00:47:47,160
Speaker 2: world of advertising and cinema.

852
00:47:47,960 --> 00:47:50,400
Speaker 1: Yes, For fans of Taco bell and pop culture, the

853
00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:54,120
Speaker 1: nineties were a glorious time for two reasons. Nineteen ninety

854
00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:59,680
Speaker 1: three's Demolition Man, starring Sylvester Stallone and a Chihuahua named Gidget. Heigel,

855
00:48:00,120 --> 00:48:02,000
Speaker 1: you got to tell us about Demolition Man. I can't

856
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:04,600
Speaker 1: take this from you. Oh, Demolition Man is a classic.

857
00:48:04,719 --> 00:48:05,960
Speaker 2: I feel like it was one of those movies that

858
00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:11,319
Speaker 2: was just perennially on like TBS and USA, and I like,

859
00:48:11,360 --> 00:48:14,600
Speaker 2: I watched this a lot, like with Conair on on

860
00:48:14,719 --> 00:48:17,319
Speaker 2: cable as a kid. It is a broadly speaking, is

861
00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:20,640
Speaker 2: a dystopian action film in which Stallone plays a super

862
00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:23,400
Speaker 2: cop who framed for crime he didn't commit or something

863
00:48:23,719 --> 00:48:26,720
Speaker 2: is cryogenically frozen and thought out in a future southern

864
00:48:26,760 --> 00:48:30,839
Speaker 2: California in which liberalism and political correctness as viewed by

865
00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:34,400
Speaker 2: Dennis Leary, who has a prominent role as a rebel leader,

866
00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:38,440
Speaker 2: has become the rule of authoritarian law. You can't swear

867
00:48:38,480 --> 00:48:44,759
Speaker 2: in public. You're fined instantly, you know, like smoking is outlawed.

868
00:48:44,920 --> 00:48:48,719
Speaker 2: It's it's this whole vision. It's actually become kind of insanely.

869
00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:50,840
Speaker 1: Pression.

870
00:48:50,960 --> 00:48:54,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, because not only is it like one long joke

871
00:48:54,520 --> 00:48:57,799
Speaker 2: of what like right wingers actually think the country currently is.

872
00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:00,840
Speaker 2: But you know, it's got all this stuff about like

873
00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:02,880
Speaker 2: like it takes place in what I call it, They

874
00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:09,239
Speaker 2: call it like Sam Barbara Barbangelis or something because an

875
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:14,280
Speaker 2: earthquake has fused the major southern California metropoliss of Santa Barbara,

876
00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:19,080
Speaker 2: La and Santa Cruz or something like that. Wesley Snipes

877
00:49:19,120 --> 00:49:21,319
Speaker 2: plays the villain in a role slated for Jackie chan

878
00:49:21,560 --> 00:49:25,720
Speaker 2: Actually and boyd Is. Wesley Snipes, in the parlance of Twitter,

879
00:49:26,040 --> 00:49:28,239
Speaker 2: make a meal out of it. It is one of

880
00:49:28,280 --> 00:49:31,640
Speaker 2: my favorite roles. He is a gleefully cackling lunatic with

881
00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:35,319
Speaker 2: dyed blonde hair who spends most of the movie in

882
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:37,360
Speaker 2: suspenders karate kicking people.

883
00:49:38,520 --> 00:49:40,280
Speaker 1: It rules anyway.

884
00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:48,440
Speaker 2: Sandra Bullock, America's sweetheart non Julia Roberts category plays Stallone's

885
00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:51,480
Speaker 2: love interest cop partner, and she takes him out for

886
00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:54,399
Speaker 2: a fancy dinner in a scene that has outlasted most

887
00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:57,560
Speaker 2: of the rest of the film to a Taco bell, which,

888
00:49:57,600 --> 00:50:00,240
Speaker 2: as she explains in a throwaway line, is the only

889
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:06,400
Speaker 2: only restaurant left standing in the country after the franchise wars.

890
00:50:07,160 --> 00:50:08,960
Speaker 1: Just amazing. Writing top to bottom.

891
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:10,719
Speaker 2: So how did Taco Bell end up with this pride

892
00:50:10,760 --> 00:50:16,040
Speaker 2: of place, Well because everyone else said no. Other chains

893
00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:18,120
Speaker 2: wouldn't do it tie in with an R rated movie.

894
00:50:18,360 --> 00:50:21,680
Speaker 2: Jonathan Lemkin, an uncredited writer on the film, told Entertainment

895
00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:25,360
Speaker 2: Weekly at the time, the demographics of our most frequent customers,

896
00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:29,480
Speaker 2: males eighteen to thirty four, matched the film's audience, added

897
00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:34,320
Speaker 2: Taco Bell company spokeswoman Janis Smith. Meanwhile, Eric Dulquist, president

898
00:50:34,360 --> 00:50:37,319
Speaker 2: of the Vista Group, which helped General Motors plant their

899
00:50:37,360 --> 00:50:40,960
Speaker 2: futuristic cars in the movie, added to Entertainment Weekly. What's

900
00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:43,919
Speaker 2: unusual about Demolition Man is that these arrangements were set

901
00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:47,680
Speaker 2: up when the script was first in review, just an

902
00:50:47,719 --> 00:50:52,000
Speaker 2: early trailblazer in corporate product placement. According to an adweek

903
00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:55,000
Speaker 2: write up from the time, General Motors and Taco Bell

904
00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:59,680
Speaker 2: burned through fifteen million combined in media spends to help

905
00:50:59,719 --> 00:51:04,280
Speaker 2: promote the film Ah America. Another of the film's writers,

906
00:51:04,560 --> 00:51:08,399
Speaker 2: Daniel Waters, confirmed all that to Vulture in twenty twenty.

907
00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:11,000
Speaker 2: I am a Taco Bell person, he said. We have

908
00:51:11,040 --> 00:51:14,080
Speaker 2: great Mexican food out here in LA. People were like, oh,

909
00:51:14,120 --> 00:51:17,320
Speaker 2: Taco Bell is not real Mexican food. I'm going yes,

910
00:51:17,600 --> 00:51:21,400
Speaker 2: we know, much like Demolition Man, it's its own genre.

911
00:51:21,880 --> 00:51:25,279
Speaker 2: That's a pool quote for the ages. Waters continued to

912
00:51:25,320 --> 00:51:28,279
Speaker 2: be quite honest, My original draft was Burger King, and

913
00:51:28,280 --> 00:51:32,200
Speaker 2: then Burger King scoffed and McDonald's scoffed when Taco Bell

914
00:51:32,280 --> 00:51:36,080
Speaker 2: came around. It's like, of course, Taco Bell the greatest

915
00:51:36,080 --> 00:51:41,000
Speaker 2: thing that's ever happened to this movie. Taco Bell would

916
00:51:41,040 --> 00:51:44,480
Speaker 2: notch another victory over its hated San Bernardino rival in

917
00:51:44,520 --> 00:51:47,200
Speaker 2: two thousand and nine when they replaced McDonald's as fast

918
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:51,200
Speaker 2: food sponsor of the NBA, toppling Mickey D's twenty year

919
00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:54,799
Speaker 2: reign not just an aside, but only a portion of

920
00:51:54,840 --> 00:51:58,960
Speaker 2: Demolition Man's assuredly international audience may even understand that reference,

921
00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:01,919
Speaker 2: because for the European version of the film, Taco Bell

922
00:52:02,040 --> 00:52:06,160
Speaker 2: was dubbed and also animated over all of the branding,

923
00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:09,920
Speaker 2: all of the signage, etc. With Pizza Hut because executives

924
00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:13,120
Speaker 2: feared that the former wasn't quite as international at the time,

925
00:52:13,680 --> 00:52:16,919
Speaker 2: but Taco Bell isn't bitter. To celebrate Demolition Man's twenty

926
00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:20,520
Speaker 2: fifth anniversary, the upscale Taco Bell from the film's US

927
00:52:20,640 --> 00:52:23,319
Speaker 2: version was recreated with a pop up location in San

928
00:52:23,400 --> 00:52:27,400
Speaker 2: Diego during Comic Con in twenty eighteen. Guest received a

929
00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:30,680
Speaker 2: free four course meal served by wait staff dressed in

930
00:52:30,719 --> 00:52:34,080
Speaker 2: the uniforms from the film. Ah, Sometimes I really do

931
00:52:34,120 --> 00:52:34,920
Speaker 2: love this country.

932
00:52:35,160 --> 00:52:36,719
Speaker 1: That is a really cool look in Taco Bell.

933
00:52:36,760 --> 00:52:40,160
Speaker 2: I do have to say, Hell yeah, brother Jordan, why

934
00:52:40,160 --> 00:52:43,440
Speaker 2: don't you sidebar us into Taco Bell's genius run of

935
00:52:43,600 --> 00:52:44,960
Speaker 2: ads in the nineties.

936
00:52:45,280 --> 00:52:48,960
Speaker 1: I thought you'd never ask. Taco Bell, it must be said,

937
00:52:49,280 --> 00:52:52,920
Speaker 1: has had some pretty amazing ad campaigns and marketing spens.

938
00:52:53,719 --> 00:52:56,160
Speaker 1: I vividly remember when they helped Willie Nelson out of

939
00:52:56,160 --> 00:52:58,920
Speaker 1: his IRS tax hole in the early nineties by commissioning

940
00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:02,920
Speaker 1: a song called The Woman with the Rose Tattoo, which

941
00:53:02,960 --> 00:53:06,400
Speaker 1: introduced both the Steaks Burita Supreme I can't stay in

942
00:53:06,400 --> 00:53:10,200
Speaker 1: the strafe face Steak Burrita Supreme and Zesty Steak Melt.

943
00:53:10,560 --> 00:53:12,879
Speaker 1: How did he incorporate that into the lyrics? I don't

944
00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:14,359
Speaker 1: Do you want me to pull up the lyrics? Yes,

945
00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:17,360
Speaker 1: I do. I want you to recite them as Willie Nelson.

946
00:53:17,719 --> 00:53:19,839
Speaker 2: Well, let's just punch it in. Poor Willie. I mean,

947
00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:22,680
Speaker 2: he must have just been too stone to give it. Also,

948
00:53:22,800 --> 00:53:26,360
Speaker 2: you know, jump bro the the government was literally about

949
00:53:26,400 --> 00:53:27,960
Speaker 2: to sell all of his possessions.

950
00:53:29,239 --> 00:53:30,480
Speaker 1: Sorry, you got all.

951
00:53:30,520 --> 00:53:32,839
Speaker 5: The muss At the border went up, drove the woman

952
00:53:32,960 --> 00:53:35,880
Speaker 5: with the rose tatt She offered him a ride, and

953
00:53:35,920 --> 00:53:39,520
Speaker 5: when he got inside, she offered him something and steak

954
00:53:39,560 --> 00:53:41,520
Speaker 5: burto supreme from Tongo Bell.

955
00:53:41,719 --> 00:53:44,840
Speaker 1: She insisted that he tried, and I lose this to

956
00:53:44,920 --> 00:53:47,680
Speaker 1: steak melt from Tongo Bell. He had never had nothing

957
00:53:47,680 --> 00:53:48,320
Speaker 1: in life.

958
00:53:48,160 --> 00:53:52,480
Speaker 2: And when he tried the steaks on Tongo he got

959
00:53:52,560 --> 00:53:53,520
Speaker 2: both of them in there.

960
00:53:53,920 --> 00:54:02,479
Speaker 1: God, what is it professional? Because exactly poor Willie. Yeah,

961
00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:07,200
Speaker 1: that man's been through a lot, and I have to

962
00:54:07,239 --> 00:54:09,760
Speaker 1: imagine this was related. Taco Bell also threw a twenty

963
00:54:09,800 --> 00:54:14,040
Speaker 1: thousand dollars check to farm Aid, the charity foundation that

964
00:54:14,120 --> 00:54:16,640
Speaker 1: Willie dreamt up during the recording of We Are All

965
00:54:16,680 --> 00:54:21,080
Speaker 1: the World. I believe again this was to help sweeten

966
00:54:21,080 --> 00:54:22,960
Speaker 1: the deal and convince him to throw away all of

967
00:54:23,000 --> 00:54:26,920
Speaker 1: his cultural cachet to write a song for Taco Bell. Okay,

968
00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:29,560
Speaker 1: So they dangled not only a do you not want

969
00:54:29,600 --> 00:54:32,160
Speaker 1: to go to tax prison over him, but they also

970
00:54:32,239 --> 00:54:34,640
Speaker 1: dangled a twenty thousand dollars check to his charity over

971
00:54:34,719 --> 00:54:38,120
Speaker 1: him to make him do that. Okay, They also used

972
00:54:38,160 --> 00:54:41,759
Speaker 1: Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire around the same time, which

973
00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:44,960
Speaker 1: was two years before Johnny Cash's late period. Rick Ruben

974
00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:48,719
Speaker 1: assisted renaissance, so they were really they were early adopters

975
00:54:48,800 --> 00:54:52,480
Speaker 1: to the late era Cash. A few years later, in

976
00:54:52,560 --> 00:54:55,240
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, Taco Bell took out a full page

977
00:54:55,360 --> 00:54:59,440
Speaker 1: advertisement in seven leading US newspapers announcing that the company

978
00:54:59,440 --> 00:55:03,960
Speaker 1: had purchased the Liberty Bell to quote reduce the country's debt,

979
00:55:04,040 --> 00:55:07,800
Speaker 1: and they renamed it the Taco Liberty Bell. Of course,

980
00:55:08,600 --> 00:55:11,759
Speaker 1: this naturally spurned thousands of calls to talk about headquarters,

981
00:55:11,760 --> 00:55:15,000
Speaker 1: angry calls, I should say, before it was revealed at

982
00:55:15,040 --> 00:55:19,640
Speaker 1: noon on April first, that the story was a prank,

983
00:55:21,680 --> 00:55:24,600
Speaker 1: corporate April Fool's Day pranks, I don't know can be

984
00:55:24,640 --> 00:55:26,840
Speaker 1: grown worthy. That one's not bad though, I guess. I

985
00:55:26,880 --> 00:55:29,760
Speaker 1: mean they were better before social media. Yeah, that's true,

986
00:55:30,040 --> 00:55:31,680
Speaker 1: because you had to go bigger otherwise no one would

987
00:55:31,719 --> 00:55:36,560
Speaker 1: hear it. Yeah, yeah, this I actually vividly remember. In

988
00:55:36,560 --> 00:55:39,080
Speaker 1: two thousand and one, tak About launched the campaign time

989
00:55:39,160 --> 00:55:42,640
Speaker 1: to the re entry of the Mere Space Station, where

990
00:55:42,680 --> 00:55:46,280
Speaker 1: they towed a massive floating target into the Pacific Ocean

991
00:55:46,320 --> 00:55:48,680
Speaker 1: and announced that if the target was hit by falling

992
00:55:48,719 --> 00:55:52,680
Speaker 1: debris from mirror, every person in the United States would

993
00:55:52,680 --> 00:55:54,680
Speaker 1: be entitled to a free taco. It was great. It

994
00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:58,080
Speaker 1: was just like an inflatable bullseye. The company bought a

995
00:55:58,160 --> 00:56:02,239
Speaker 1: sizeable insurance policy for this gamble, but sadly for the

996
00:56:02,239 --> 00:56:05,400
Speaker 1: citizenry of this world, it did not pay off and

997
00:56:05,480 --> 00:56:09,359
Speaker 1: we didn't all got a free taco. Sad. They've also

998
00:56:09,440 --> 00:56:12,759
Speaker 1: run a similar promotional campaign during various world series which

999
00:56:12,800 --> 00:56:15,720
Speaker 1: pays off if any player in the series steals a base.

1000
00:56:16,800 --> 00:56:20,000
Speaker 1: That seems I'm kind of surprised that one hasn't paid

1001
00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:22,560
Speaker 1: out yet. That kind of has paid out.

1002
00:56:22,840 --> 00:56:26,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, twice two thousand and five, and I think

1003
00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:27,120
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two.

1004
00:56:27,200 --> 00:56:29,360
Speaker 1: Actually, are you just pulling that off the top of

1005
00:56:29,360 --> 00:56:30,759
Speaker 1: your head. I mean, you could easily be making that

1006
00:56:30,880 --> 00:56:33,960
Speaker 1: up and I have no idea, but no, I just

1007
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:35,319
Speaker 1: didn't put it in the write up, but I saw

1008
00:56:35,360 --> 00:56:39,400
Speaker 1: it earlier. A one campaign that didn't work out was

1009
00:56:39,400 --> 00:56:41,160
Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine when they put out a

1010
00:56:41,160 --> 00:56:44,520
Speaker 1: campaign asking rapper fifty cent to change his name to

1011
00:56:44,760 --> 00:56:48,120
Speaker 1: seventy nine cent, eighty nine cent, or ninety nine cent

1012
00:56:48,560 --> 00:56:51,120
Speaker 1: to promote its menu items that cost less than a

1013
00:56:51,239 --> 00:56:55,200
Speaker 1: dollar fitty though I can say that, right, I mean

1014
00:56:55,280 --> 00:56:58,919
Speaker 1: I can't, but people can. Okay, said that that's something

1015
00:56:58,960 --> 00:57:02,680
Speaker 1: fifty sounds worse. Though that sounds even more. It does

1016
00:57:02,719 --> 00:57:07,680
Speaker 1: sound somehow worse. Yeah. The rapper, though, said he wasn't

1017
00:57:07,719 --> 00:57:10,960
Speaker 1: contacted until the campaign went wide, and he promptly sued

1018
00:57:10,960 --> 00:57:14,479
Speaker 1: them for four million dollars in damages, alleging the Taco

1019
00:57:14,600 --> 00:57:19,960
Speaker 1: bell had exploited his name. The suit was settled out

1020
00:57:19,960 --> 00:57:22,640
Speaker 1: of court. Out of court.

1021
00:57:24,040 --> 00:57:28,960
Speaker 2: Uh. One of these ad campaigns supposedly backfired. I don't

1022
00:57:28,960 --> 00:57:30,880
Speaker 2: actually remember well, of course I didn't remember this. I

1023
00:57:30,920 --> 00:57:35,880
Speaker 2: wasn't reading newspapers. In February of twenty eleven, Tacobo spent

1024
00:57:35,960 --> 00:57:39,120
Speaker 2: over three million running full page ads that read thank

1025
00:57:39,160 --> 00:57:42,720
Speaker 2: you doing us in major newspapers and on social media

1026
00:57:42,800 --> 00:57:45,560
Speaker 2: after a consumer protection lawsuit filed against the company by

1027
00:57:45,560 --> 00:57:49,160
Speaker 2: an Alabama law firm alleged that the company falsely advertised

1028
00:57:49,160 --> 00:57:54,480
Speaker 2: the ratio of ingredients in its beef filling. The advertising

1029
00:57:54,520 --> 00:57:57,400
Speaker 2: suit was filed in California in January of twenty eleven,

1030
00:57:57,680 --> 00:58:01,200
Speaker 2: alleged that the filling didn't have enough beef to be

1031
00:58:01,280 --> 00:58:05,080
Speaker 2: called that, suggesting that the meat mixture did not meet

1032
00:58:05,120 --> 00:58:08,880
Speaker 2: federal requirements to be labeled beef. Taco Bell says it's

1033
00:58:09,080 --> 00:58:13,360
Speaker 2: taco filling contains eighty eight percent USDA inspected beef and

1034
00:58:13,400 --> 00:58:17,240
Speaker 2: the rest is water, spices, and a mixture of oats, starch,

1035
00:58:17,360 --> 00:58:20,240
Speaker 2: and other ingredients that contribute to what the chain calls

1036
00:58:20,400 --> 00:58:22,000
Speaker 2: the quality.

1037
00:58:21,600 --> 00:58:24,360
Speaker 1: Of its product. Oh, I don't like that.

1038
00:58:26,120 --> 00:58:28,240
Speaker 2: It says it uses no extenders to add volume to

1039
00:58:28,280 --> 00:58:31,920
Speaker 2: the filling. So this suit was actually withdrawn, and then

1040
00:58:32,000 --> 00:58:35,360
Speaker 2: Taco Bell, in another example of apex petty, continued to

1041
00:58:35,400 --> 00:58:39,680
Speaker 2: spend ad money to place ads that publicly requested an

1042
00:58:39,720 --> 00:58:43,200
Speaker 2: apology from the law firm that sued them. Now, all

1043
00:58:43,280 --> 00:58:45,360
Speaker 2: these ads that say, like would it kill you to

1044
00:58:45,360 --> 00:58:49,080
Speaker 2: say sorry? It is the most passive aggressive thing. I

1045
00:58:49,200 --> 00:58:52,320
Speaker 2: just that's the corporate conversation that I would want to

1046
00:58:52,360 --> 00:58:55,720
Speaker 2: be on. Yeah, guys, a below the line. Ad costs

1047
00:58:55,720 --> 00:58:57,560
Speaker 2: are like, don't you want two.

1048
00:58:57,400 --> 00:59:03,080
Speaker 1: Million to just with this law firm? Yes? All right,

1049
00:59:03,160 --> 00:59:04,840
Speaker 1: Rubbert stampit. Uh.

1050
00:59:04,880 --> 00:59:07,080
Speaker 2: This has all been a preambleedo to the ad campaign

1051
00:59:07,120 --> 00:59:09,840
Speaker 2: that gripped America for a wild full years in the

1052
00:59:09,880 --> 00:59:14,280
Speaker 2: pre y two K highs. The Taco Bell dog gidget

1053
00:59:14,360 --> 00:59:18,040
Speaker 2: as was her Christian name, proclaimed Yokio Taco Bell in

1054
00:59:18,080 --> 00:59:21,440
Speaker 2: a voice provided by Reno nine one one actor Carlos

1055
00:59:22,320 --> 00:59:25,080
Speaker 2: alas God, I can't this is going to defeed me

1056
00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:31,560
Speaker 2: a las raki Ala Carlos from Reno nine one one.

1057
00:59:32,480 --> 00:59:36,680
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry he took influence for that voice from

1058
00:59:36,720 --> 00:59:40,800
Speaker 2: Peter louri Uh and ren from ren and Simpy, who

1059
00:59:40,840 --> 00:59:43,160
Speaker 2: is also a chihuahua who is also doing a Peter

1060
00:59:43,280 --> 00:59:44,920
Speaker 2: Lorii impression, which is incredible.

1061
00:59:45,120 --> 00:59:47,520
Speaker 1: I'm kind of shocked that that didn't resolve in some

1062
00:59:47,600 --> 00:59:50,600
Speaker 1: kind of intellectual yea from Nickelodeon.

1063
00:59:51,040 --> 00:59:53,720
Speaker 2: They didn't want to bring John Ka back into the spotlight.

1064
00:59:56,640 --> 00:59:59,600
Speaker 2: The campaign, which was originally just slated for one installment,

1065
00:59:59,640 --> 01:00:04,439
Speaker 2: became massively popular, with its auxiliary catchphrase drop the Chaloupa,

1066
01:00:04,480 --> 01:00:07,520
Speaker 2: briefly becoming a hit phrase on Sports Center. One of

1067
01:00:07,520 --> 01:00:09,959
Speaker 2: its most famous crossovers came from the ill fated nineteen

1068
01:00:10,000 --> 01:00:12,240
Speaker 2: ninety eight Godzilla remake, in which the dog tried to

1069
01:00:12,320 --> 01:00:15,360
Speaker 2: trap Godzilla with the classic cardboard on a string set

1070
01:00:15,440 --> 01:00:19,240
Speaker 2: up with the phrase here, Lizard, Lizard, Lizard, something my

1071
01:00:19,320 --> 01:00:21,440
Speaker 2: mom still laughs at and in fact bought me a

1072
01:00:21,480 --> 01:00:24,640
Speaker 2: T shirt for. When this campaign hit the airwaves because

1073
01:00:24,680 --> 01:00:26,000
Speaker 2: I love the Godzilla you see. I know.

1074
01:00:26,280 --> 01:00:28,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's actually why I let you read the sex.

1075
01:00:29,440 --> 01:00:32,120
Speaker 2: Unless you lived through it. It's really hard to convey

1076
01:00:32,240 --> 01:00:36,600
Speaker 2: how insane this campaign was. Like people were stealing these

1077
01:00:36,680 --> 01:00:40,600
Speaker 2: this the promotional materials that featured Gidget out of restaurants.

1078
01:00:41,560 --> 01:00:47,120
Speaker 2: The merch for it flooded like dashboards and carnivals the nation,

1079
01:00:47,200 --> 01:00:50,000
Speaker 2: across the nation. I'm not exaggerating, right, you remember how

1080
01:00:50,000 --> 01:00:54,160
Speaker 2: big this thing I was. Insane Waxing on the campaign success,

1081
01:00:54,200 --> 01:00:56,440
Speaker 2: Clay Williams, the copywriter on the account, told The New

1082
01:00:56,520 --> 01:00:59,000
Speaker 2: York Times in nineteen ninety eight, we don't treat the

1083
01:00:59,040 --> 01:01:01,320
Speaker 2: dog as a dog. We treat him as a nineteen

1084
01:01:01,400 --> 01:01:04,760
Speaker 2: year old trapped in dog's body. He's a cool character

1085
01:01:04,880 --> 01:01:06,120
Speaker 2: that happens to be a dog.

1086
01:01:07,560 --> 01:01:15,520
Speaker 1: Grims, it's the Dell guy in a talks body. Yes, basically, dude,

1087
01:01:15,560 --> 01:01:16,320
Speaker 1: you're getting a taco.

1088
01:01:17,560 --> 01:01:21,880
Speaker 2: Some Latin American adjecsy groups decried Taco Bell, accusing them

1089
01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:25,280
Speaker 2: of trafficking cultural stereotypes, which was an accusation that was

1090
01:01:25,320 --> 01:01:29,520
Speaker 2: hard to duck, particularly over ads that depicted the dog

1091
01:01:29,600 --> 01:01:33,960
Speaker 2: as a bandido with pistols and a sombrero or cosplaying

1092
01:01:34,040 --> 01:01:37,160
Speaker 2: as a revolutionary wearing a beret that was suspiciously similar

1093
01:01:37,200 --> 01:01:42,840
Speaker 2: to that of Chay Guavera, who was Argentinian. But the

1094
01:01:42,880 --> 01:01:46,120
Speaker 2: good times couldn't last. In July two thousand, Taco Bell

1095
01:01:46,240 --> 01:01:49,880
Speaker 2: ended the ads, severed its relationship with the creator TBWA,

1096
01:01:50,400 --> 01:01:54,600
Speaker 2: and replaced their own president after historic drop in revenue

1097
01:01:54,600 --> 01:01:57,320
Speaker 2: in the second quarter of two thousand. For a while,

1098
01:01:57,320 --> 01:01:59,880
Speaker 2: there were urban legends that Taco Bell ended the commercials

1099
01:02:00,200 --> 01:02:03,920
Speaker 2: because of the dog Gidget who died, but voice actor

1100
01:02:03,960 --> 01:02:07,720
Speaker 2: Tom Kenny, who is a belief of Futurama actor, among

1101
01:02:07,800 --> 01:02:10,840
Speaker 2: many other things, who's a friend of the voice of Gidget.

1102
01:02:10,920 --> 01:02:15,200
Speaker 2: Carlos said that it was the lobbying by the Hispanic

1103
01:02:15,200 --> 01:02:17,000
Speaker 2: advocacy groups that ended the campaign.

1104
01:02:17,400 --> 01:02:20,800
Speaker 1: Oh SpongeBob is the voice of SpongeBob, Tom Kenny, Oh

1105
01:02:20,880 --> 01:02:22,320
Speaker 1: I should have gone with that first.

1106
01:02:23,080 --> 01:02:26,240
Speaker 2: Three years later, Taco Bell lost a lawsuit filed against

1107
01:02:26,240 --> 01:02:29,720
Speaker 2: them by two Michigan men who claimed they had pitched

1108
01:02:29,720 --> 01:02:32,280
Speaker 2: the concept of the Chihuahua campaign to Taco Bell in

1109
01:02:32,320 --> 01:02:35,320
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety six and subsequently worked with them for over

1110
01:02:35,360 --> 01:02:38,080
Speaker 2: a year, developing a campaign and commercials under the working

1111
01:02:38,160 --> 01:02:40,360
Speaker 2: name Psycho Chihuahua.

1112
01:02:40,520 --> 01:02:42,520
Speaker 1: Another good band name that can smoke.

1113
01:02:43,000 --> 01:02:48,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were awarded thirty million in initial composition plus

1114
01:02:48,160 --> 01:02:52,960
Speaker 2: nearly twelve million in additional interest and hilariously, Taco Bell

1115
01:02:53,040 --> 01:02:58,520
Speaker 2: in turn sued TWA, claiming that they, not Taco Bell,

1116
01:02:58,640 --> 01:03:00,480
Speaker 2: should have been aware of this inflict.

1117
01:03:01,160 --> 01:03:04,760
Speaker 1: They also lost that suit TWA. Like the oh the

1118
01:03:05,880 --> 01:03:10,760
Speaker 1: tbwa tbwa Sorry, Well, Gidget, the dog in the commercials

1119
01:03:11,000 --> 01:03:13,200
Speaker 1: was much like Spuds Mackenzie and the bud Light ads

1120
01:03:13,280 --> 01:03:16,360
Speaker 1: years earlier. A I can't bring myself to say this,

1121
01:03:16,400 --> 01:03:18,800
Speaker 1: I will say a lady dog playing a male dog.

1122
01:03:20,400 --> 01:03:22,840
Speaker 1: She was found at a kennel and wasn't show quality

1123
01:03:22,920 --> 01:03:28,400
Speaker 1: due to her undershot jaw and oversized ears. Karen Mceeladon,

1124
01:03:28,600 --> 01:03:31,320
Speaker 1: the owner of Studio Animal Services, who in turn owned

1125
01:03:31,320 --> 01:03:34,000
Speaker 1: the dog, told the Associated Press that Gidget died in

1126
01:03:34,000 --> 01:03:36,560
Speaker 1: two thousand and nine at the age of fifteen. She

1127
01:03:36,640 --> 01:03:38,880
Speaker 1: made the most of her celebrity, opening the New York

1128
01:03:38,960 --> 01:03:43,400
Speaker 1: Stock Exchange all the things they could have had the

1129
01:03:43,400 --> 01:03:47,320
Speaker 1: Tuckle Bell Dog do, and appearing at Madison Square Garden

1130
01:03:47,400 --> 01:03:52,760
Speaker 1: as what herself. Well, okay, let me rephrase that. I mean,

1131
01:03:52,880 --> 01:03:53,520
Speaker 1: was it part of.

1132
01:03:53,560 --> 01:03:58,320
Speaker 2: Like Chihuahuas are not a dispositionally inclined dog for all

1133
01:03:58,320 --> 01:04:00,960
Speaker 2: this too, so oh, I know that's that poor creature.

1134
01:04:02,440 --> 01:04:04,520
Speaker 1: She also appeared in the two thousand and two crossover

1135
01:04:04,560 --> 01:04:07,480
Speaker 1: commercial for Guy Coo as Bruiser's mom in the two

1136
01:04:07,520 --> 01:04:11,400
Speaker 1: thousand and three movie Legally Blonde to Red, White and Blonde,

1137
01:04:11,400 --> 01:04:16,680
Speaker 1: That's medium funny gets you outlud Glenn Bell, the creator

1138
01:04:16,720 --> 01:04:19,200
Speaker 1: of Taco Bell, who died in twenty ten at the

1139
01:04:19,200 --> 01:04:24,080
Speaker 1: age of eighty six. Do you take this?

1140
01:04:25,560 --> 01:04:28,640
Speaker 2: He was proud of his legacy of theft, telling the

1141
01:04:28,640 --> 01:04:31,960
Speaker 2: trade publication Nations Restaurant News in two thousand and eight

1142
01:04:32,000 --> 01:04:34,840
Speaker 2: that I always smile when I hear people say that

1143
01:04:34,880 --> 01:04:37,640
Speaker 2: they never had a taco until Taco Bell came to town.

1144
01:04:40,240 --> 01:04:42,440
Speaker 2: Is that wrong? Is that so wrong with me? T

1145
01:04:42,560 --> 01:04:47,000
Speaker 2: tar and feather him as a thief. But if you

1146
01:04:47,000 --> 01:04:51,320
Speaker 2: want to visit the original icon that naked Caucasian theft built,

1147
01:04:51,760 --> 01:04:55,160
Speaker 2: you can always make a pilgrimage to Irvine, California, where

1148
01:04:55,200 --> 01:04:58,880
Speaker 2: the actual literal original brick and mortar Taco Bell is

1149
01:04:59,040 --> 01:05:02,600
Speaker 2: enshrined at corporate headquarters. It had ceased to be an

1150
01:05:02,600 --> 01:05:05,600
Speaker 2: actual Taco Bell since nineteen eighty six. But continued to

1151
01:05:05,920 --> 01:05:09,960
Speaker 2: house in its original spirit various Takardias for the intervening decades.

1152
01:05:10,400 --> 01:05:14,080
Speaker 2: It had stood vacant, though since December of twenty fourteen,

1153
01:05:14,280 --> 01:05:16,880
Speaker 2: so just under a year later. In November of twenty fifteen,

1154
01:05:17,320 --> 01:05:20,840
Speaker 2: in a nighttime ceremony witnessed by a few faithful fans

1155
01:05:20,880 --> 01:05:24,760
Speaker 2: and escorted by some police cars, Taco Bell uprooted the

1156
01:05:24,960 --> 01:05:28,520
Speaker 2: entire structure and drove it forty five miles east to

1157
01:05:28,640 --> 01:05:33,040
Speaker 2: corporate headquarters. If you're dedicated enough, you can simply drive

1158
01:05:33,080 --> 01:05:37,240
Speaker 2: around back and see if it's still there. Visible to

1159
01:05:37,240 --> 01:05:41,240
Speaker 2: the naked eye. The headquarters rear parking lot is unguarded

1160
01:05:41,320 --> 01:05:45,120
Speaker 2: according to Atlas Obscura, though it is technically private property.

1161
01:05:45,560 --> 01:05:48,240
Speaker 2: To be careful, but it is supposedly still just parked

1162
01:05:48,280 --> 01:05:51,280
Speaker 2: out there, occasionally covered with the tarp a case of

1163
01:05:51,320 --> 01:05:56,200
Speaker 2: inclement weather. And hey, from there you can make it

1164
01:05:56,280 --> 01:05:59,600
Speaker 2: up to the Meetla Cafe, home of the original Taco

1165
01:05:59,640 --> 01:06:07,600
Speaker 2: Dorat in just under an hour. Folks, thank you for listening.

1166
01:06:07,800 --> 01:06:10,480
Speaker 2: This has been too much information. I'm Alex Eigel.

1167
01:06:10,280 --> 01:06:12,840
Speaker 1: And I'm Jordan run Tug. We'll catch you next time.

1168
01:06:17,840 --> 01:06:21,000
Speaker 1: Too Much Information was a production of iHeartRadio. The show's

1169
01:06:21,040 --> 01:06:24,080
Speaker 1: executive producers are Noel Brown and Jordan run Talk. The

1170
01:06:24,120 --> 01:06:26,880
Speaker 1: show's supervising producer is Michael Alder. June.

1171
01:06:27,120 --> 01:06:29,960
Speaker 2: The show was researched, written, and hosted by Jordan run

1172
01:06:30,040 --> 01:06:31,439
Speaker 2: Tag and Alex Heigel.

1173
01:06:31,200 --> 01:06:34,440
Speaker 4: With original music by Seth Applebaum and the Ghost Funk Orchestra.

1174
01:06:34,760 --> 01:06:36,800
Speaker 4: If you like what you heard, please subscribe and leave

1175
01:06:36,880 --> 01:06:39,840
Speaker 4: us a review. For more podcasts on iHeartRadio, visit the

1176
01:06:39,880 --> 01:06:43,160
Speaker 4: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

1177
01:06:43,160 --> 01:06:43,880
Speaker 4: favorite shows