In an effort to advertise its Doritos Locos Tacos, fast food powerhouse Taco Bell announced it would hold a nationwide giveaway of the new product if any player stole a base in the World Series. Enter Angel Pagan: San Francisco Giants outfielder and America’s newest sweetheart.
Pagan’s stolen base off Detroit Tigers pitcher Drew Smyly in Game 2 put Taco Bell on the spot, and they delivered. The free taco giveaway was scheduled for Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. nationwide.
The Lantern wanted to test the success of the advertisement, so this reporter traveled to Taco Bell near High Street and 9th Avenue. The place was more crowded than I expected it to be at about 3:30 p.m., but by no means was there a line out the door.
However, a horde attacked and the restaurant was filled with at least 25 customers just a few minutes after my arrival.
Employees declined to comment on the promotion, but I was able to talk to some students before being asked to leave for loitering. I wanted to know how many customers had actually heard about the giveaway while watching the World Series.
Ryan Sobie, a first-year in electrical and computer engineering, gave me some hope that our generation is still interested in baseball. Sobie said he had seen the promotional advertisement while watching the Series, but learned all about the details from Facebook.
I discovered the wave of people had mostly all traveled to Taco Bell on the same COTA bus. It was on the bus ride that Alicia Spurlock, a second-year in biology, was first informed about the free tacos. I asked her if she had learned of the promotion from watching the World Series, but she claimed she “would not have even known the World Series was involved” had I not told her. As far as she had known, I could have made up the part about the World Series.
For those of you who missed out, what a shame; the Doritos Locos Tacos are quite delicious. Heck, Spurlock said she eats them “for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”