Taco Bell Case Summary

California Resident, Amanda Obney, initiated the allegations against Taco Bell’s advertising and labeling, stipulating that the context led her to believe that Taco Bell’s meat filling was that of seasoned ground beef (Roper, Samikkannu, & O’Rourke, 2011). Within the context of the initial allegations, specific concerns were expressed in that Taco Bell misrepresented certain ingredients as “seasonings”, when in fact, the ingredients were added to increase the volume of the product, referred to as “binders” and “extenders”, rather than to add flavor (Roper, Samikkannu, & O’Rourke, 2011). Furthermore, the lawsuit noted that internally, Taco Bell referred to the product as “seasoned ground beef” and its “seasoned beef” as “taco meat filling” (Roper, Samikkannu, & O’Rourke, 2011). Therefore, the plaintiff, Amanda Obney, expressed concern that the product should be labeled “taco meat filling” versus beef (Roper, Samikkannu, & O’Rourke, 2011).

Consequently, the Taco Bell Corporation fell victim to a lawsuit on January 19, 2011, when the company was served a suit filed by Alabama law firm Beasley Allen, alleging the restaurant chain’s taco meat mixture did not contain enough beef to meet the USDA requirements to be referred to as “ground beef” (Roper, Samikkannu, & O’Rourke, 2011). …show more content…
Indeed, this was no ordinary thank you letter, but rather a well-orchestrated marketing campaign targeted to allow the corporation to tell its side of the story regarding the pending lawsuit (Crandall, Parnell, & Spillan, 2014). Although this was only the beginning of its efforts to repair its reputation and communicate the truth about its product, Taco Bell was striking back against the lawsuit that challenged the beef contents of its products (Roper, Samikkannu, & O’Rourke,