Taco Bell Acts Quickly to Remove Transphobic Radio Ad
January 13, 2010 by Anna Wipfler, GLAAD's Transgender Advocacy Fellow
After receiving several reports from constituents and advocates about a transphobic radio commercial for Taco Bell, GLAAD joined a handful of watchful bloggers in calling on the company to cancel the ad. This afternoon, Taco Bell agreed to pull the hurtful material from further broadcasts after conversations with our National News team and other concerned advocates, including Autumn Sandeen of Pam’s House Blend.
While no audio recording of the commercial has yet been found, BorderHouse blog published the most complete description of its content on January 7th:
Some male tells a female (presumably his wife or girlfriend) that it’s a surprise that there is nacho cheese in a layer of the Taco Bell burrito. The woman responds with “Well, I have a surprise for you. I was born male, my name was Claudio” and her voice is lowered several octaves. After which, the male says “Ew.”
GLAAD contacted Taco Bell’s Media Relations staff about the collective outcry over the use of someone’s transgender identity as the punch line of a joke (a troubling trend we dealt with most recently in outreach to the Late Show with David Letterman).
Spokesman for Taco Bell, Rob Poetsch, confirmed that descriptions of the ad by concerned advocates were accurate and quickly began the process of taking the ad off the air. He issued this statement to GLAAD late today.
“We sincerely apologize as the ad was not meant to offend anyone and as soon as it was brought to our attention, we immediately stopped airing it.”
- Rod Poetsch, Taco Bell Corp.
It is encouraging to see Taco Bell act so quickly in response to our concerns. A special thank you to all of the community members, especially Autumn Sandeen, who brought this to GLAAD’s attention. We were happy to help bring a resolution to this situation.
[...] that I heard on my morning commute into work. Today, GLAAD has not only linked us as the most complete source of this offensive ad on the internet, but also announced that Taco Bell have removed this ad from [...]
NO ONE on Taco Bell’s corporate staff could have foreseen this as being a problematic ad?! Give me a break. Glad they pulled it so quickly, though. Kudos to them for their sensitivity to the community’s concerns.
I am glaad that Autumn is receiving praise for her activism, but I know this was only the tip of the iceberg. Thank you Autumn for all you do,
kelli
also huge thank you to Glaad. You guys are awesome too!
Thanks for getting the job done! Sadly, the people who heard the ad and laughed right along with it will probably never see Taco Bell’s weak apology.
The ads are still running in Norfolk, VA as of 5 PM EST today.
The ad is still playing as of 5:45 pm today. . .
It is still playing multiple times a morning in Boise, Idaho as of January 15. Really sad.
I personally thought that ad was funny. The new one sucks!
you know, i do not see anything so offensive about this ad…..i think that it is a way to promote homosexual identities even more, helping out those same sex couples who wants to get married. I think that the more there are things like this our there, the more accepting people will eventually will become and be comfortable with. I totally like it and thought it rocks…..
Yes – the ad is still playing in Hampton Roads, Virginia and it makes me furious!!
The ad has NOT been pulled and was played last weekend on Ryan Seacrest’s American Top 40 Show which is about as national as it gets. Taco Bell is talking out of both sides of their mouth and needs to have their feet held to the fire.
The ad is vile and not only do they, and their media department need to apologize, the ad agency which produced it needs to apologize and, moreover, explain that they actually understand what’s offensive about it. “We’re sorry and it won’t happen again” is NOT an apology… it’s a cliché.
[...] January 13 GLAAD reached out to Taco Bell Corporation after receiving numerous complaints about a transphobic radio commercial that was airing across the [...]
I think it’s downright funny. And yes, I’m trans. I wanna hear a copy of this ad — it sure doesn’t run on local NYC radio.
I can think of several possibilities, none of which are mutually exclusive and I’m not sure which bothers me more:
-Taco Bell / Yum Foods apparently didn’t follow up with anyone contracted to run the ads despite numerous emails from people offended and hurt by them.
-Taco Bell / Yum Foods (parent) might be letting their ads run through the time or number of airings contracted, figuring the whole thing would blow over.
-no one at glaad reads these comments, as they have chronicled the ongoing play of the ads.
-no one at glaad seemed to have followed up on the comments if they did read them.
I am not eating at Taco Bell any more, nor any other Yum Foods company. It’s a lot better for my health to avoid them. I recommend you do the same.
Apparently I am mistaken about glaad:
http://glaadblog.org/2010/01/25/taco-bell-address-reports-that-transphobic-radio-ad-is-still-airing/
However, I am hearing that the ads are *still* airing in some markets…
Whats the problems with having a harmless chuckle anymore…being too politically correct is becoming a nusance