Taco Bell's "Belluminati" ad campaign

[SirKazum]

Taco Bell recently made a "Belluminati" marketing campaign to promote its dollar menu, with a series of ads (see youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhcj3sOdckg)), a website, social media stuff and so on. Anyway, just posting this to say that, looking at the youtube comments and #belluminati (https://twitter.com/hashtag/belluminati) Twitter hashtag, the sheer number of people taking the "Illuminati" angle dead seriously (apparently most in both aforementioned media) is absolutely hilarious :smalltongue: I mean, I know people love a conspiracy theory, but I'd never have guessed that so many people treat the Illuminati as such a serious subject.

[Leewei]

I love the ads, but still don't eat at Taco Bell.

Arby's has run some great, geeky ads recently as well. I saw one last night where they rolled a d20 made from food cartons.

[JoshL]

I love taco bell, but don't watch TV so never saw the commercials, which is too bad because they had some merch (now sold out). I would have loved to grab one of the t-shirts.

Just after reading this here, a friend on facebook pointed out the reaction of country music singer Charlie Daniels :

https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/charlie-daniels-issues-grim-warning-to-taco-bell-about-the-illuminati/ar-BBIaUdR?ocid=st

[Peelee]

I love the ads, but still don't eat at Taco Bell.

Arby's has run some great, geeky ads recently as well. I saw one last night where they rolled a d20 made from food cartons.

Whoever is running Arby's social media is warning their paycheck. They've made some pretty amazing stuff, and they putting more out there.

[Dr.Samurai]

Taco Bell recently made a "Belluminati" marketing campaign to promote its dollar menu, with a series of ads (see youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhcj3sOdckg)), a website, social media stuff and so on. Anyway, just posting this to say that, looking at the youtube comments and #belluminati (https://twitter.com/hashtag/belluminati) Twitter hashtag, the sheer number of people taking the "Illuminati" angle dead seriously (apparently most in both aforementioned media) is absolutely hilarious :smalltongue: I mean, I know people love a conspiracy theory, but I'd never have guessed that so many people treat the Illuminati as such a serious subject.
Nice try SirKazum, but I recognize Illuminati damage control when I see it. I’ve got eyes on you!

[SirKazum]

I love the ads, but still don't eat at Taco Bell.

Me neither - not only I live many thousands of kilometers away from the closest Taco Bell (AFAIK), it's hardly the sort of place I'd go to in the rare occasions that I visit the US. Nor do the ads run here either, of course - I heard about it from the Charlie Daniels tweet.

Neither my posts on the matter nor the Taco Bell campaign are in any way indicative of the fact that people are on to the Illuminati and we they are panicking and scrambling around for ways to use humor to direct people away from the truth... that would be absurd.

[JeenLeen]

I'd heard the ads on the radio, but the change in tone/voice made me think it was shifting from a fast food ad to an ad for cologne or something fancy.

I think I'm going to try getting one of those things they're advertising tomorrow. I didn't really understand what all it is, but it sounded good. If the weather is nice, it might be a fun walk with the kids (and walking to it instead of driving would be good exercise to couple with that meal.)

[Peelee]

Me neither - not only I live many thousands of kilometers away from the closest Taco Bell (AFAIK)

Oh man, they just built a Taco Bell literally two minutes from my house. It's the greatest thing ever.

[Velaryon]

Holy moly, that comment section on Youtube is a thing to behold. And to think those people are allowed to vote...

[huttj509]

Oh man, they just built a Taco Bell literally two minutes from my house. It's the greatest thing ever.

Hey, that would put me in range of my home for the "aftermath"!

[Fable Wright]

Holy moly, that comment section on Youtube is a thing to behold. And to think those people are allowed to vote...

I regret looking.
This, I can never unsee.
Seriously, what?

The number of strongly religious comments in there is almost as disturbing as... well, people believing that (1) an intellectual's club from 1776 that was about thinking rationally and opposing obscurantism is somehow still around and is actually made of lizard people trying to deceive, eat, and/or control people, (2) not realizing the inherent irony in their fervent attempt to reveal the 'truth', and (3) believing that what amounts to epileptic trees formed from a collection of happenstance and youtube comments has more than a tangential relation to real life.

[dps]

Personally, I think it's one of the stupidest ad campaigns I've ever seen. Not the absolute stupidest, but it's up (or down?) there.

[Velaryon]

It's pretty dumb, but not nearly as dumb as the people who apparently take it as an admission that Taco Bell is actually controlled by the Illuminati.

[Starwulf]

Wow, I wish I hadn't gone to that youtube video. Little more faith in humanity has been lost. Absurd how many nutjobs are out there that believe crap like that.

[Mystic Muse]

...What does it say about me that I looked at thd comments and just laughed?

[Keltest]

...What does it say about me that I looked at thd comments and just laughed?
Either that you have a mighty spirit incapable of being crushed... or that you were just utterly broken.

[tomandtish]

Oh man, they just built a Taco Bell literally two minutes from my house. It's the greatest thing ever.

I weep for the state of Mexican/Tex-Mex in Alabama if a Taco Bell is the greatest thing ever.....

[Peelee]

I weep for the state of Mexican/Tex-Mex in Alabama if a Taco Bell is the greatest thing ever.....

There is plenty of delightful tex/mex in Alabama. Taco Bell, however, is dirt cheap, and two minutes from my house. QED.

[Rockphed]

It's pretty dumb, but not nearly as dumb as the people who apparently take it as an admission that Taco Bell is actually controlled by the Illuminati.

Having worked for Taco Bell, I'm pretty sure that several of their corporate policies are designed to prevent a global disaster. Can't you feel the fabric of reality weakening in the middle of the night when the local taco bells turn off their lights? Can't you feel the existential anguish when cheap re-hydrated beans and cheaper beef are no longer being combined within the folds of tortillas? How do you hope to survive the coming storm of darkness without the ever-so-slightly spicy after taste to drive off the vampires?

[Dilvish]

The Illuminati are using Taco Bell to cater their parties? If they have fallen that far, how powerful can the Illuminati really be? :)

[Peelee]

The Illuminati are using Taco Bell to cater their parties? If they have fallen that far, how powerful can the Illuminati really be? :)

They clearly know the value of 12 tacos for 10 dollars.

[tomandtish]

They clearly know the value of 12 tacos for 10 dollars.

Interestingly, someone handled me one of their... Stackers? a little bit ago. had a few extra so passed me one. Figured I'd see if Taco bell had improved any in the last several years.

Nope. Still incredibly bland meat, what appears to be fake cheese, and a hideous sauce. I've literally eaten raw insects I enjoyed more.

I know it is close to your home, but surely there has to be a better place that is worth traveling a bit further.... ?

[Gnoman]

Taco Bell is heavily dependent on the location. If I went to the two nearest to my house, ordered the same thing, and placed them next to each other on a table; it is very likely that it would be almost impossible to tell they came from the same chain. Of course, neither would be very good, but one of them (always from the same location) would be far worse.


It is frustrating, because my city usually gets new menu items first - last I checked we were one of their test markets. That would be a lot cooler if their food was better.

[Peelee]

Interestingly, someone handled me one of their... Stackers? a little bit ago. had a few extra so passed me one. Figured I'd see if Taco bell had improved any in the last several years.

Nope. Still incredibly bland meat, what appears to be fake cheese, and a hideous sauce. I've literally eaten raw insects I enjoyed more.

I know it is close to your home, but surely there has to be a better place that is worth traveling a bit further.... ?

Taste is subjective. There are plenty of better places, one literally next door (actually before the Taco Bell). But, it's passable, fast, and cheap. The tavern right by it is delightful, but it's also a sit-down restaurant and significantly more pricy.

[Starwulf]

Taste is subjective. There are plenty of better places, one literally next door (actually before the Taco Bell). But, it's passable, fast, and cheap. The tavern right by it is delightful, but it's also a sit-down restaurant and significantly more pricy.

Yep, I love Taco Bell personally, it's the only fast-food restaurant that I eat at with regularity. I don't get fancy, just hard and soft taco's and Baja Blast Mt. Dew.

It's definitely down to the individual restaurant as well though, there are 4 in the nearest "big"* city, and only two of them are edible, and of those two, one of them is significantly better than the other still.

*By big city, I mean a city with a population over 2k. It's actual population is about 100k, and that includes all the surrounding rural areas, the city proper is only 30-35k or so I think.

[Rockphed]

It's definitely down to the individual restaurant as well though, there are 4 in the nearest "big"* city, and only two of them are edible, and of those two, one of them is significantly better than the other still.

Where I used to work there was a taco bell about a mile away and another about 3 miles away. My co-workers told me to go the the farther one, even though lunch break was short. Why? Because the one a mile away hired a lot of idiots to work the lunch shift so they were a) slow and b) probably not keeping up on their food safety checks. One co-worker claimed to have gotten food poisoning 2 of the 3 times he had eaten there.

[Fishybugs]

Yep, I love Taco Bell personally, it's the only fast-food restaurant that I eat at with regularity. .

That's ironic. For most people, eating at Taco Bell causes irregularity.

[Starbuck_II]

That's ironic. For most people, eating at Taco Bell causes irregularity.

Only if you displeased the Illuminati, silly.

(I find it weird that spell check recognized Illuminati)

[Dilvish]

Only if you displeased the Illuminati, silly.

(I find it weird that spell check recognized Illuminati)

The Doritos tacos were one of the Illuminati's successes.

You're in Enterprise? I lived in Dothan for 10 years, until 2013. I used to game in Enterprise.

[Peelee]

The Doritos tacos were one of the Illuminati's successes.

You're in Enterprise? I lived in Dothan for 10 years, until 2013. I used to game in Enterprise.

It makes me happy to see Alabama be so represented here. It's kinda cool.

As an aside, my wife lived in Enterprise for a while! She went to the high school before the tornado took it away, IIRC.

[Bohandas]

Taco bell is my favorite fnord fast food place.

[The_Iron_Lord]

Wow, I wish I hadn't gone to that youtube video. Little more faith in humanity has been lost. Absurd how many nutjobs are out there that believe crap like that.

You had any faith left? :smalltongue:

[Xyril]

I weep for the state of Mexican/Tex-Mex in Alabama if a Taco Bell is the greatest thing ever.....

I can count at least a dozen better burger places within 30 minutes, but I can see why having a McDonald's or Wendy's pop up nearby would be the greatest thing ever. It's fairly cheap, open late, reliable if not particularly exceptional in quality, and they're not too judgey a when you roll in around 2 am with a dozen mostly inebriated classmates.

[Xyril]

It makes me happy to see Alabama be so represented here. It's kinda cool.


Is it bad that I still really hate Alabama? You guys have this one amazing math and science school, and once or twice a year they would descend upon neighboring states like a swarm of locusts, because it was apparently that important to them that everyone knows that the best academic teams in their neighboring states aren't necessarily from those states.

[Peelee]

Is it bad that I still really hate Alabama? You guys have this one amazing math and science school, and once or twice a year they would descend upon neighboring states like a swarm of locusts, because it was apparently that important to them that everyone knows that the best academic teams in their neighboring states aren't necessarily from those states.

One? UAB pumps out doctors, nurses, and researchers, and UAH pumps out rocket scientists and engineers.

In any event, I both love and hate Alabama, for reasons that are best left off this forum.

[2D8HP]

I haven't noticed any Taco Bell or Arby's advertisements in many years, this thread, like so many in "Media Discussions" makes me feel isolated.

[Xyril]

One? UAB pumps out doctors, nurses, and researchers, and UAH pumps out rocket scientists and engineers.

Oh, I meant at the high school level. Once I got into college, I pretty much lost any sense of insecurity about the quality of my school academically, and started hating Alabama because of football instead.

[Peelee]

Oh, I meant at the high school level. Once I got into college, I pretty much lost any sense of insecurity about the quality of my school academically, and started hating Alabama because of football instead.

Psh. I'm assuming you're talking about AIMS? There's plenty of private high schools in Alabama that are also incredibly good (and, of course, expensive).

Now hating Alabama for football is perfectly fine in my book.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by SirKazum
Taco Bell recently made a "Belluminati" marketing campaign to promote its dollar menu….

The one commercial I’ve seen was hilarious. I’m not going to ruin that by going to the YouTube page and reading comments about lizard people.


Originally Posted by Leewei
I love the ads, but still don't eat at Taco Bell.

My family has standing orders to use any means necessary to prevent me from eating at Taco Bell.

They may well vary from location to location, but the one down the street from me serves warmed-over dog food. Sadly, I verified this just a couple days ago.


Originally Posted by Peelee
There is plenty of delightful tex/mex in Alabama.

Also in Texas, where I used to live.

Now that I’m on the East Coast, there isn’t much I miss about Texas, but the outstanding Tex/Mex food is quite high on a very short list. Despite years of searching, I’ve never found its equal anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic states.


Originally Posted by Dilvish
You're in Enterprise? I lived in Dothan for 10 years, until 2013. I used to game in Enterprise.

Wow. I was born in Ozark. All my life I’ve regretted I wasn’t born in Enterprise. :smalltongue:

[Peelee]

Wow. I was born in Ozark. All my life I’ve regretted I wasn’t born in Enterprise. :smalltongue:

No slight towards Enterprise, but that's not something I ever expected to hear.

[JoshL]

If the new Taco Fries are not evidence of a deeper conspiracy to enslave mankind, I don't know what is. Seriously, they are amazing.

There are a fair amount of options around here for tex-mex and authentic Mexican food. I love them all. However, Taco Bell occupies a fast food space all its own. It's like a cartoon monkey. You know what it's supposed to be, but it doesn't really look much like it, yet somehow has its own appeal for what it is. I like it better than Chipotle for fast food, which is closer to what they are going for, but not really good, so it just reminds you that you could have gotten real food. I do miss the Baja Fresh chain (owned by Wendys), which had surprisingly good guac.