Taco Bell takes down ad to be more veggie-friendly

A new Taco Bell advertisement that ran during the college football Bowl Championship Series has faced so much criticism from health groups for being “anti-vegetable” that it has now retracted the ad.

The offending ad shows a man arriving at a party with a veggie tray, to the dismay of the hostess.

“Veggies on game day is like punting on fourth-and-one: it’s a cop-out,” says the voice-over. “Secretly, people kind of hate you for it.”

When the commercial was released, the Center for Science in the Public, a health advocacy group, took to Twitter asking people to urge Taco Bell to take the ad down.

The group complained that TV doesn’t show ads for healthy vegetables like kale or broccoli. They called the commercial the equivalent of a vegetable “attack ad.”

But producer Jake can relate to the message in the commercial. He said he has been asked to bring veggie trays to parties and they sit untouched.

Dori has an annual Super Bowl party with friends who work for days on chili or gourmet appetizers. Someone who just brings a veggie tray looks bad.

“So this ad is absolutely true,” said Dori.

Taco Bell finally gave in, and spokesman Rob Poetsch told the Seattle PI that he didn’t want anyone to misunderstand the commercial.

Representatives for the Center for Science in the Public were excited about the victory for veggies.

“We are delighted that Taco Bell is pulling an ad that urged people not to bring veggie trays to their Super Bowl parties, but to instead bring 12-packs of Taco Bell’s tacos,” the Center for Science in the Public said in a statement.