People want the meaty truth about Taco Bell

Recently, Taco Bell has exploded in the news media cycle with its self-promotion of a lawsuit that is waged against it. The most astonishing thing is how Taco Bell is actively publicizing the lawsuit instead of trying to cover it up and leave it in courtrooms only.

A woman in California filed the lawsuit on Jan. 19. Surprisingly, the suit has taken the backseat — what everyone is talking about is Taco Bell’s reaction.

Approaching this lawsuit aggressively and waging a full-on media campaign featuring news ads, Facebook pages and Youtube videos is not the usual course of actions for a charge like this.

Taco Bell is acting boldly, but can it back up its claims? If the lawyers of the plaintiff can succeed in proving that Taco Bell has a beef percentage lower than what the USDA requires or is worse than what Taco Bell claims, the company could have a grande-sized problem.

Taco Bell has more at stake in this situation. If the case results in damage to its reputation and sales, it could potentially lose a significant amount of its market share when it comes to late-night fast-food. This is exactly why Taco Bell feels it is necessesary to spend as much money as it takes in through any venue in order to gain the upper hand and the support of the public.

Television pundits including Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have both weighed in on the meatiness of this issue. Both poked at Taco Bell with wit and used clever humor to further publicize the situation. On The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert was voraciously working his way through a Taco Bell product.

All of this advertising and publicity will likely not have immediate detrimental consequences for Taco Bell. The quality and true percentage of actual meat in Taco Bell products is something people have been skeptical of for some time. When you can buy the taco products at such a cheap price, thinking about the quality is something you should do before the first bite.