Taco Bell To Give Away Free Tacos If A Base Is Stolen In The World Series
The curiously Australian president of Taco Bell, Greg Creed, has done it again. He's going to give away 1 free "Beef Crunchy Taco" to anyone who wants one if a player from either team steals a base during the World Series.
The promotion is called "Steal a base, steal a taco," though Reuters assures us: "Despite the promotion's name, stealing the taco will not be required."
Thanks, Reuters. We'll stop polishing our six-guns.
Taco Bell's World Series bet: free tacos for all [Reuters] (Thanks, Tricia!)
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Yummy. Anyone know what that meat filling is made of? I've always wondered....
genius. who is just going to get "one" taco. people will end up ordering something else.
Nice. It shouldn't take long into game 1 for this to be complete. Good PR though.
This should provide adequate sustenance for the dr. who marathon.
Hahah Yum! I'll show you!!
I live equidistant from like... 32 T-Bells.
All your free meat substitutes are belong to me!!
How can they afford to do this?
When I went to college in Tucson, AZ - we had a corner Taco Bell that was shut down for using Dog Meat. Delicious. Needless to say, it kept our school newspaper running with fun stories for quite some time after that.
@Rectilinear Propagation: One taco probably doesn't cost much money, and if it generates more revenue by bringing people into the restaurant to buy other items, then from a marketing perspective it has a positive cost outcome.
@Tush: Oh, don't worry about that. It's TACO BELL "beef".... You'll be ok, I'm sure. I'm sure there's not an ounce of actual beef in the entire thing!
LOL - read the official rules - it has to be on a certain date after the game and between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m to get your tacos! Good luck America!
300 million taco bell tacos? That's going to cost like a hundred bucks! and that's just for the labor!
Back when they put that barge out in the middle of the ocean and said everyone would get a free taco if Mir hit it when it re-entered the atmosphere, they had an insurance policy that would pay them back if it actually happened. And for the record, yes the barge was within the area Mir was expected to hit.
The base stealing could mean not actually going from 1st to 2nd, et al, but could mean literally stealing a base. They could insist it means walking off the field with a base in hand. Since no one would actually accomplish that then the promotion will never have to provide for a free taco.
For years I thought "Taco Bell" was the Mexican phone company...
@Daemon_of_Waffle: That's happened before:
Maybe it doesn't count since he doesn't appear to leave with the bases but he does yank two of them out of the ground.
In April a Boston furniture company had a promotion to give customers FREE furniture if the Red Sox got into the World Series in 2007. Well the Sox made it in and the promotion will cost them millions.
If only they would give away some Immodium along with it.
@Consumer-X: That article says that they would receive free furniture if the sox win the series, not merely making it in.
So, all their stolen base are belong to us?
1 free "Beef Crunchy Taco"
Remember when Taco Bell's menu was so short that these oddities were simply called "tacos"?
I, for one, miss the simplicity of tacos, beans, and "crispas".
The interesting thing about the promotion is the Attorney General is looking into it as a violation of state law. Viewed as some kind of gambling, I suppose.
Whatever you might think about Taco Bell, They are experts at PR and know how to take advantage of world wide news events.
Just like those car giveaways for "hole-in-one" golf tournaments, Taco Bell buys insurance from firms that specialize in these type of promotions in case they lose.
@BigNutty: I don't think insurance for this one is an issue. The last World Series without a stolen base was in 1989. That doesn't exactly create insurable, hole-in-one type probability.
Can we have a show of hands: How many out there can get off of work to physically show up at a Taco Bell between 2-5 p.m. on a weekday to get your freebie?
Now, those of you with your hands still up: How much gas (at $3/gallon) do you have to burn to collect your 79¢ prize?
Frankly, if they give away a half-million of these things at that hour, I'd be surprised. $400K in lost revenue for the sake of promotion is what comes out of Taco Bell's pants pockets when you run them through the dryer.
@Consumer-X: That's if the Sox WIN the World Series, not if they get there. 4 wins away from free furniture!! (not that I bought any...)
From my understanding, they bought an insurance policy to cover the deal and it's cost them some percentage of their total sales for the promotion. I'm sure the percentage was made up for in volume.
Hell, I would be willing to roll down to Taco Bell for my freebie.. Plus a few extra..
@hypnotik_jello: They take out insurance - I saw a story about a similar promotion in which they put a target out in the middle of the ocean and decreed that if a piece of Mir hit it, everyone in the US would get a free taco.
Mir fell far short of the estimated impact location in the end because it turned out the station had far more drag than anticipated.
I don't think they are insuring against this. Insurance doesn't work for things that are almost guaranteed to happen. It would be like people insisting on insurance for the cost of doctor checkups. Wait a minute...
Plus Taco Bell has the 'long line effect' on their hands. Even if everyone *did* go to Taco Bell during the appointed time, the lines would be so long, most people would abandon their quest for a 77 cent taco. I predict they throw away more tacos in a week than they will give away in this promotion.
Somehow, a quote from the Heavy of Team Fortress 2 seems appropriate:
"Someone touched Sasha... WHO TOUCHED MY GUN?!?"
For anyone interested in what the yummy filling is made of: Beef, Water, Seasoning [Isolated Oat Product, Salt, Chili Pepper, Onion Powder, Tomato Powder, Oats, Soy
Lecithin, Toasted Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Maltodextrin, Sugar, Soybean Oil (Anti-Dusting Agent), Black Pepper, Oregano, Cumin, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Cocoa Powder (Processed With Alkali), Lactic Acid, Natural Flavors, Natural Smoke Flavor, Modified Corn Starch], Salt, Sodium Phosphate.
@melmoitzen: I go to college, and I can walk to the nearest Taco Bell... of course, if I'm going to go there I'd want a soda and maybe some nachos, and I assume that's the reason for this promotion.
@adamthepugh: Care to cite a source? I live in Tucson as well and have access to back issues of the Arizona Daily Wildcat, which I'm assuming you're referencing.
Unless, of course, you're just blindly making stuff up and it magically happens that this incident that produced "fun stories for quite some time" doesn't turn up even once in a Google search.
@Tush: Sub beans is free, good try.
The better question is, why can't we get a soft taco instead? :(
I wad reading about this on GlobalGrind.com...i hate Taco Bell, I wish it could have been Wendy's or something good, but good for them for being able to do such a big promotion.
@harryhoody: Caramel color? Autolyzed Yeast Extract? Cocoa Powder processed with Alkali?? Sheesh. With all that crap, no wonder beef is only .0000025% of the taco.
eColi anyone? Free?
So... if a base is stolen... I can drive to one Taco Bell, get a free taco, drive to the one just down the road (which is another city, literally), get another free taco, and then drive to the one by my college and get a third one... right?
@markedward: Yeah but how much gas did you use to get three free tacos? Are they that close together?
cool
What about those of us who don't eat beef? Us Hindus always get screwed!