Taco Bell®
Freeing Taco T***day
If you’re living on planet Earth in the year 2024, chances are you’ve heard of Taco Tuesday. Moreover, it’s likely that you or someone you know has partaken in some form of Taco Tuesday festivities (typically, eating tacos on Tuesday). But here’s the rub.
Since 1989, a taco chain called Taco John’s has owned the trademark for “Taco Tuesday,” in all U.S. states with the exception of New Jersey – which is a whole other can of worms we’re not going to get into right now. What’s worse, Taco John’s has a rich history of policing their trademark, often sending cease and desists to small businesses who they find using the trademarked phrase.
That’s why Taco Bell, with the help of their agency partners at Deutsch, Edelman and Cashmere, decided to file a petition to free taco Tuesday. Spoiler alert: we won!
But to understand the intricacies of such a unique trademark lawsuit, you must first understand Taco Law.
That’s where we come in.
PLATFORMS
Earned Media, Social
ROLE
Concept, Art Direction, Production
After announcing our mission, we published the first ever Taco Law Journal. Available on social and hand-delivered to media outlets, we let taco fans know we were serious.
If it sounds crazy and ridiculous, it’s because it is. And I know what you’re thinking.
“This was just one of those bullsh*t advertising campaigns. Taco Bell never filed a petition over a trademark for Taco Tuesday.”
Wrong. Introducing Exhibit A (right). Have a read for yourself. In the petition, filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, we argued that “nobody should have exclusive rights [for] a common phrase.”
And like I said, not only did we really do all of this: we won.
Eat that, Taco John’s.
