Super Bowl Ad: Taco Bell's "Lions"

Taco Bell has given us plenty to talk about via the Chihuahua. Tag line after tag line this little guy has gotten me through some hard times. Now, I am fully aware that there is a myriad of deeper, more influential things i could talk about, even in the advertising world. But, I want to talk about these here talking lions right now.

The entire ad consists of a conversation between two lions observing some campers. I know that there are plenty of questions to be raised here: Why would anyone camp in Africa? How many Taco Bells could there possibly be in Africa? And (for the more astute viewers) why are two male lions laying next to each other and sharing a territory? That is a prime example of why it's better if we just take advertisements such as this one at surface value and enjoy the lions' discussion of how to pronounce "carne asada." And the casual mention of Ricardo Montalban, two things which can never go wrong.

I am fully aware that a lot of people will react badly to this statement but, these commercials are important. They may not give us artistic inspiration, or certainly not any sort of moral guidance but they are, if nothing else, conversation pieces. They effect the way we interact with each other and, more importantly, they control the development of fads. No matter how much we want to deny it, we've all said "Wazzzzzzzzzzzzup?!" at one point in time.

We've all quoted some seemingly meaningless commercial. What we have to note is that we make them meaningful through our repetition. We apply merit to them far beyond what they were intended for. Even if we repeat them mockingly, we are repeating them and they will continue to be repeated until the next one comes along. Those simple, stupid jokes and one-liners carry on like conversational viruses and I know that, without a doubt, I will hear those lions' conversation, full of poorly pronounced Spanish and obscure TV references, repeated in malls and diners again and again.

Say what you want. Say that these commercials are designed to manipulate and remind the so-called weak minded. You might be right. But, I'll say that they're still funny and I know that I'm right.

See it here.