Why Taco Bell Is Being So Smug

There's been a sort of uproar recently about research finding that the beef used in Taco Bell's product is only about one-third real beef, when the advertising claims their product is made with 100% beef. Thus, we seem to have a clear-cut case of false advertising, and you'd assume Taco Bell and Yum! Brands corporation would want to sweep this incident under the rug, and hope nobody notices. Rather, when the lawsuit was filed, they replied by taking out a full-page ad in newspapers with the snotty heading of "Thank you for suing us" in huge type at the top. Was it just P.R. spin to make it seem like they've already won the suit? Well, in fact, they pretty much have.

This is a trick that companies have long used, and they're actually telling the truth when they claim to use "100% beef". But the meat they use isn't "100% beef", it just contains "100% beef". So, yes, by exploiting this loophole, Taco Bell's product does have 100% beef inside of it. It's "made with" it. Those two words are all they need to fully comply with the law and lie to the consumer.

Juicy Juice does the same thing. Have you ever noticed how it says "Made with 100% juice" on the label? It wouldn't be any different if M&Ms candies came with a sticker that read "Contains 100% red and green M&Ms" for Christmas, but then was just a normal bag when you opened it. Well, yeah, there's blue and orange and brown and yellow in there, sure, but there's no denying the rest of it is 100% red and green!

So, Taco Bell's strategy is to use the loophole in the law to win the case, then walk away pretending the victory validates them, when it actually condemns them, and hope the public is too stupid to know the difference. In the end, it all comes down to whether or not you trust marketing. Good luck, if you do.