Sunday, February 6, 2011

Taco Bell: Real trouble with unreal meat

I cannot speak for everyone, but being a college student, to me, means that at some point in time you have taken advantage of the extremely low prices of the Taco Bell menu. The "value"menu is really not far from the prices of the regular menu and everything is of the same quality, which I admit is not THAT bad. And the saying "you get what you pay for" definitely does apply. But in a way that's why we love it.

Recently, Taco Bell has been accused of not meeting the USDA's minimum requirement of actual beef content. Which is, disgustingly, only 40 percent! This accusation sparked a lawsuit and PR extravaganza. This video was quickly released by the President of Taco Bell:




It has been shown recently that instead of admitting a mistake any mistakes, taking responsibility, and fixing the problem. Taco Bell went on to place the blame on the beef supplier, even though in the video above they still admit they, themselves, do not use 100 percent beef. Rather 88 percent and "other ingredients". As this brand controversy continues, the companies PR department definitely has their work cut out for them.

3 comments:

  1. Creed's video was very comforting and made me want to believe that the Taco Bell corporation is doing a great job in providing it's customers with quality meals. His intentions seem for the best. However, the youtube video 'up next' is "Taco Bell Sued Over Beef Ingredients, False Advertising..." What am I supposed to believe? From a public relations perpective, the video was highly persuasive. Creed's presentation in the video was very professional.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had a Facebook status about this controversy as soon as word came out that Taco Bell only uses 40% real meat.
    I agree with you when you quote the well-known phrase, "you get what you pay for" because honesty how can people be expecting 100% of the best meat around for 70 cents? Sure, this alarming fact brought Taco Bell a PR disaster, but at what cost? Things are cheap for a reason as well as they are expensive for a reason---quality determines the distinction in price.
    However, I think despite this fact, people will still continue to buy Taco Bell because they have been for years even knowing it was the same grade of meat as dog food!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I for one am always happy for what I get at Taco Bell. I couldn't agree more with your statement Chanel. What we buy is what we get. I feel though that with Taco Bell being such a recognized name will gain handle this fiasco very well.

    ReplyDelete