Thanks to Jacoby Ellsbury and his second-base steal last night, all of America will be treated to free tacos next Tuesday (Image by Boston.com’s Jeff Dockum).
It’s called the “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” promotion by Taco Bell, and although it truthfully wasn’t much of a gamble (there’s been at least one base stolen in every World Series since 1990), it has garnered plenty of attention.
The deal: if a base was stolen during this year’s World Series, Taco Bell will provide a free crunchy seasoned beef taco (valued at 77 cents) to each customer at any of their 5,800 locations. The catch: you only get three hours to do it … between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. local time on Tuesday, October 30.
Of course, that fine line didn’t get as much coverage as the main idea, so the promo has been the subject of many conversations this week — even among the players! “It might cost Taco Bell more if they did it between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.,” joked one player during the game. Coco Crisp and Royce Clayton also gave Taco Bell some great airtime during their dugout conversation, taped because Clayton was wearing a wireless mike for the Fox broadcast.
Fans and bloggers alternately called it “staged”(but it wasn’t) and hysterical, but the interview shortly afterward with Taco Bell COO was unanimously painful. The Chief Operating Officer (who wants to bet he’s never eaten the food he’s promoting?) had a pasted smile on his face, canned answers and poor promo phrases in response to every question, and a general attitude of “I’m only here because I’m paid to be, and you should be bowing at my feet for gracing you with my presence.”
Talk about ruining the moment.
