2007 Super Bowl Ad: Taco Bell Lions

The fast food industry has really stepped up advertising efforts, and all the big name chains have embarked on solid ad campaigns. Taco Bell is one of these big names, and has become a roaring success. It was no surprise to see one of its ads occupying the costly Super Bowl space Sunday. They used this slot to promote a new menu item, which most Taco Bell enthusiasts would agree looks quite yummy.

The ad begins with a view of campers in the wild, Taco Bell food in tow. The view is actually from of a lion pair watching the campers We hear their dialogue because, of course, they talk: in typical 18 to 25-year-old male style. Lion #1 asks about the smell in the air, Lion #2 thinks he's talking about the campers, though he's really referring to the carne asada steak in the new steak grilled taquitos.

Right away there's a disagreement between the lions about the proper pronunciation of the "carne" part of carne asada. Lion #1 is trying to persuade lion #2 to give the "r" a good, long roll, and uses Ricardo Montalbon as an example of how it should be done. Lion #2 is perplexed by the random insertion of Montalbon into the conversation.

Viewers are then treated to mouthwatering visuals of the steak grilled taquitos, while the descriptive voice-over is that of none other than Ricardo Montalbon, of course doing the carne asada proud. Very cute.

Back to the lions, #2 has still not mastered the sexy Latin "r" roll. The commercial ends as all of Taco Bell's ads do with the clever "Think outside the bun" slogan.

It seems that advertisers have come to the conclusion that America loves talking animals, and animals doing things that people do. So perhaps they were appealing to the majority of the audience with their funny lions, who they certainly wanted to relate to their 18-25 male demographic.
But it's possible that whatever Taco Bell puts in its commercials, its most effective tool is the actual food.
This is a product so well-received that even if people don't remember the commercial, or hate the commercial, they drool over the new item and vow to try it.

Overall, the ad itself was mediocre: nothing innovative or spectacular here. They could have just shown images of the taquitos with no sound and nothing else, and likely would achieve the same amount of revenue. This company actually has a product that does not require great creativity in advertising.

The ad can be viewed here:
www.ifilm.com/video/2819663/collection/18373/minisite/superbowl