We just had to update you on the good people up in Bethel, Alaska. Last we heard from them, someone had played an awful, cruel joke on the whole town, leading the citizens to believe a Taco Bell was coming to town when really, it wasn’t. The big ears at Taco Bell were listening to the town’s cries of disappointment, however, and flew in a Doritos Locos taco feast of 10,000 tacos on Sunday to make up for the disappointment.
The nearest Taco Bell to the town is about 400 miles away, so having a Taco Bell truck brought to town by helicopter must have been quite a treat for those who love a bit of fast food Mexican. According to the Alaska Dispatch, it seemed that most of the town turned out to chow down.
Bethel’s taco fest started around 1 p.m. when a Taco Bell truck was carried in by helicopter from the airport and set down in the town cultural center. For four hours, many of the 6,200 citizens dropped by to dine.
Even the former mayor showed up with five of his seven kids. He guessed that at times there were at least 600 people at once dining on tacos.
“You could take two if you wanted, then get back in line and take two more as many times as you wanted,” he said in an interview.
Taco Bell executives apparently heard about the hoax in early June, and decided to help the town out.
“If we can feed people in Afghanistan and Iraq, we can feed people in Bethel,” Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed told the Associated Press.
Indeed, Taco Bell overlords. Indeed.
In Alaska, Taco Bell feeds town with 10,000 free tacos [Alaska Dispatch]
Hoax Prompts Free Tacos in Alaska Town [Associated Press]
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Faith in humanity… or at least taco bell… restored.
Taco Bell is AWESOME!
I don’t care for Taco Bell, but good for them! This stunt probably cost about $100,000 or so to pull off, but they’ll get more legs out of it than any SuperBowl commercial that costs millions. +1 for Taco Bell’s marketing department.
Personally I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the footage in a commercial at some point, but it’s still a very cool thing to do.
I don’t care if it’s a publicity stunt, it worked for me. The food court Taco Bell shall be getting my business on probably a couple of my work days this coming week. So chalk up a few bucks profit to put against the $100k they spent.
$3M Super Bowl ad? Don’t get to see it live here in Canada. Will probably roll my eyes or maybe a brief chuckle if I catch it online. Nothing more.
$100K on blatant feel-good publicity stunt? Damn straight you’re getting my business.
After the taco fest the town reported that their sewage treatment plant exploded.
Came here for that comment, went away satisfied.
There’s one in every crowd.
They’ve got a sewage lagoon there (yes, apparently just as gross as it sounds). So overflowing.
Taco Bell is awesome
“fast food Mexican”
Mexican food is fast… I wouldn’t consider this fast food Mexican….
The statement made by the CEO is pretty cool.
What an incredible publicity stunt. Bully for you Taco Bell, bully for you.
I’m sure the people of Bethel appreciated it though. It made for a fun day for them. That’s really all that matters.
That publicity stunt is full of win, Taco Bell.
Bravo.
Did they fly in about 2 dozen Porta-Potty’s?
A truckload of LUVS…poop there is!
Flower Duet was playing in my head the whole video as the helicopter slowly dropped off the truck… it was beautiful.
When he opened the taco, I looked, and behold, there was a great rumbly in my tumbly, and the shell became orange like the sun, the Fire Sauce became like blood, and the people of the town fell upon the Locos Tacos as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.
A taco of Biblical porportions.
Great PR move. Wonder if they flew in a Pepto truck afterwards.
Great pr move, but it looks like that helicopter was just about to topple over. It’s a good thing they kept the crowd well away from the landing site.
Great PR for them… better than $100,000 in ad spots
The video reminds me of Henry’s desk.
I hope the next delivery was toilet paper, Immoduim AD, and some magazines to read.
Who needs colon blow when you have taco bell and/or white castle?
As someone who likes high quality Mexican food, I’ve never so much as set foot inside a Taco Bell…BUT as a food truck fan & twitter follower of many such food trucks (both in NYC and DC), this…is…AWESOME!
So is the first step in Taco Bell winning the Fast Food Wars that makes them the only restaurant in the country?
I’m guessing the truck itself was just a stunt.
now that’s how you do a publicity stunt.
I can’t stand Doritos, and by extension am not touching a Doritos Locos taco with a ten foot pole. However, I do loves me some Taco Bell, and please allow me to join the chorus here singing their praises. Nice to see them get some props after all the retards in the world were dumb enough to go after them about allegedly using something less than 100% ground beef to make their tacos (and everything else). Almost as nice as it was to see said retards suddenly realize that they were about to be proven to be retards in a court of law, beyond the shadow of doubt, and then drop the case.
So… this is ok but we can’t have our taco delivering drones?
Bravo Taco Bell…Bravo!
What really happened: The people of Bethel, Alaska were in dire need of food for their Huskies and conned Taco Bell into sending 10,000 individual portions of dog food to them to feed their mutts. No other reason anyone would want that stuff.
And things like this are why Taco Bell will win the Fast Food wars! All resturants will be Taco Bell.
Demolition Man is right back on course to be correct…
Well played Taco Bell, well played. Your food may be rubbish but it is nice to see you corporate goons doing an act of kindness like this.