The World Wants You to Be Stupid: The Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet

Note: This is the first in what may become a regular series on the idea that, “The World Wants You to Be Stupid” (TWWYTBS). TWWYTBS will highlight examples where businesses and other groups do things who’s success is based purely on the hope that the people watching them are stupid. Don’t succumb! And, if you have your own examples of TWWYTBS that you would like to either a)write up and share as a guest post or b) point out to me so that I can consider writing about it, please post in the comments or drop me a line letting me know.

Taco Bell now has a “Jared.”

In case you’re unfamiliar, Jared Fogle is a dude who went on a diet where he ate low fat Subway sandwiches for lunch and dinner everyday for two years and lost 240 pounds. Subway found out and made him their spokesman and launched an ad campaign around his story, and sales suddenly went way up.

It was a heartwarming story of a guy losing a lot of weight and becoming a success that astonishingly, never got too annoying.

Now Taco Bell has introduced “Christine.” She says, “I lost 54 pounds by reducing my daily calories, and replacing my usual fast food with Taco Bell’s Drive-Thru Diet.”

If you haven’t seen the ad, take a look:

Wow.

Here, my friends, is an ad campaign that truly hopes you are stupid. The hope is that you will not think too much, not read the fine print, and assume that by simply ordering off of Taco Bell’s “Fresco Menu,” that you can be like Christine or Jared.

Speaking of fine print, did you notice how almost every single shot in this ad has some kind of disclaimer at the bottom?

Let’s take a look at what Taco Bell is “disclaiming”:

• “Her exceptional experience based on average 1250 cal/day”

1250 calories per day? Look, I don’t know how tall she is, but anyone will lose weight eating only 1250 calories per day.

• “150-340 calories. Not a low calorie food”

Ah, they want to make it clear that their “Fresco” menu is not low calorie. This disclaimer is in there because that’s obviously what the audio and video lead you to believe.

Each item on the Fresco menu just replaces cheese and sour cream with salsa for a calorie reduction of 20-100 calories per item. That’s it. While it’s not a terrible idea to replace cheese and sour cream if you are trying to lose weight, it is not the basis for an entire diet. Besides, the rest of the food will still be Taco Bell quality.

• “Her exceptional experience based on average 1250 cal/day. Average reduction of 500 cal/day over 2 years with sensible food choices”

Wow, they felt the need to repeat the “1250 cal/day” bit. They really want to cover their ass on why exactly Christine lost the weight.

They also make no mention of how frequently Christine ate at Taco Bell. Was it everyday? Once a week? Once a month? How often does the Fresco Menu fit into “sensible food choices?”

And am I the only one who finds it ironic that the words “sensible food choices” are in the same zip code as a Taco Bell ad…?

• “Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet is not a weight loss program. Pay attention to total calorie and fat intake and regular exercise”

And now, since the entire ad is set up to make you believe that this is a weight loss program, they must ad text saying it is not a weight loss program.

On dictionary.com, the fourth, fifth and sixth definitions of the word, “diet,” are all variations on, “stuff people regularly eat.” By those definitions, I guess the Taco Bell Drive Thru Diet doesn’t need to be a weight loss program.

But according to the first three definitions, along with how every English speaking person in world uses it, the word “diet” has to do with losing weight or improving health. You tack the word, “diet,” onto something and people are going to think weight loss.

Oh, and if I was a real Smart Ass I would point out that the last line, “Pay attention to total calorie and fat intake and regular exercise,” is not encouraging us to actually exercise, but rather just wants us to pay attention to it. If I was a real Smart Ass…

So if Taco Bell has all these disclaimers, why do I believe that they actually want you to be stupid? Because here is what I think Taco Bell is hoping and assuming with this campaign:

• People don’t read.

Taco Bell put the disclaimers on the ad for legal purposes, but they are betting that people won’t pay attention to them. They also post the disclaimers on their web site, but again, you have to actually visit the site and read them.

If you just listen and watch the ad without reading the text, you will 100% believe that this is a weight loss program. Taco Bell is counting on it.

• People don’t research.

A simple Google search on Taco Bell Diet will pull up lots of opinions and info on the Taco Bell plan. In under five minutes you can quickly learn what doctors, nutritionists, and other health experts think about it. You also learn additional important things like even though the items may have fewer calories, they have sky-high levels of sodium.

Taco Bell is hoping you’ll just take their word for it and not investigate further. And they may be right, which is sad because that means that people won’t spend five minutes learning more about something that could directly impact their health.

• People don’t do math.

Some of the items on the Fresco menu are 340 calories. If you are working on the 1250/day calorie plan and you eat two of those items, that’s more than half your calories for the day.

According to the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment, U.S. teens are ranked 24th in the world in math. And according to Forbes.com, the U.S. is the 9th fattest country in the world.

Coincidence? I don’t know, maybe you should ask Taco Bell.

• People don’t think.

This is the big one. Some people will read the text, do a little research, do a little math, talk to their friends about it, but still buy into it anyway. Why? Because they don’t want to think. People will hear what they want to hear. “Being able to lose weight without giving up Taco Bell!? Awesome! Sign me up!”

A little thought goes a long way. Not just in weight loss, but in everything.

Taco Bell wants you to be stupid. Don’t buy into it!

About

By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+

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