Taco Bell suggests you eat healthier, people freak the f%@k out
Published January 5th, 2010
Pardon me while I open up a bit, but there’s a point to it eventually.
2009 was a bit of a mixed bag for me. Right out of the gate, I lost my job and went through a really messy breakup. Luckily enough, I went back to work after only a couple of months at a much better job and started dating a really cool woman. However, the job loss, breakup, and new job lead to a lot of stress eating and I gained weight faster than an ex-boy bander.
After things settled in at the new gig, I started back at the gym and started watching my calorie intake via a cool little app in my iPhone. You can look in all the all the fab diet books you want, but when it comes down to it, that’s really the key to losing weight… work out more and eat properly. Let me tell you, when you start counting calories, you almost instantly start eating healthier because, surprise, surprise, junk food has a shit load of calories and is usually completely unfulfilling when you’re working out every day.
But I tell you what, I love my Taco Bell. Damn that shit is good. I’m not Hispanic at all, but I grew up in a really heavy Hispanic area in LA, so good Mexican food was all around me, all the time. But damn it if I don’t default to the white boy paradise that is Taco Bell. And, luckily enough, their Fesco Menu fit my my calorie rules quite nicely.
Just before the new year, I popped into my local taco dealership and started seeing the posters for the “Drive-Thru Diet” featuring the very same Fesco Menu I had been enjoying for about six months now and thought, “now that’s kind of clever.”
When I saw the commercial above, I was actually really impressed with the idea. Unlike that goofball over at Subway who only ate Subway sandwiches to lose weight, Taco Bell was serving up the great advice of “hey, eat fewer calories, exercise, and if you need a fast food fix, swing by, we’ve got a cool little menu for you.” The chick in the commercial pulled it off and I know from experience that it’s a pretty tasty substitute for junk food (BTW, I only lost about 15 pounds over the past six months, but I work out a ton and probably have a few more beers on occasion than this lady, so understandably, I’m not 54 pounds lighter).
So, cool, right? Taco Bell isn’t making any crazy claims… eat right, exercise, lay off the junk food. All good. Apparently not, according to Advertising Age (link) and Jezebel (link).
Advertising Age is just reporting the news, so no real dig there. They actually have some great stats on how much people are freaking out over this thing, which is all very interesting if you’re into that kind of data. Jezabel on the other hand is treating Taco Bell like most people treat that one friend who was a total slut in high school and then finds Christ after her drug dealer boyfriend tries to sell her into white slavery for some smack. That is, like shit.
Apparently, Taco Bell isn’t allowed to have a healthy menu because they still have all their old stuff available as well and still push the “Fourth Meal” idea on the stoner crowd. Seriously, Jezebel’s headline was “Taco Bell’s ‘Drive Thru Diet’ Isn’t Really A Diet, After All.”
Oh, what the fuck? Was this really in question? Get over it, lady, it’s clever ad copy not gospel. Every year there are tons of books with some new fad diet, but for some reason, Taco Bell tells you to eat right, exercise, and if you have to come to us for fast food, stick to the Fesco Menu and you decide that they’re selling smack to nuns and puppies?
Tone it down a tad, cub reporter, we’re not that delusional. Give us some credit.
J.
Funny Side Note: After I test published this, I noticed that Google AdSense was already serving ads on the page for the posting for “BBW Dating” sites. Now that’s technology working for you!
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