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‘The ad plain and simple was just racist,’ said Fred Ferguson, assistant to Oakland city councilwomen Dezie Woods-Jones. ‘It exemplified the cultural and ethnic insensitivity of days prior.’
The commercial, produced by Foote, Cone & Belding/S.F., features black actors on an island walking on fire and dancing in loincloths with spears and painted faces.
Janis Smith, director of public affairs for Taco Bell, said the ad was in line with the chain’s ‘cutting edge’ image and uses the themes of ‘spontaneity, fantasy and risk-taking’ that run throughout the chain’s commercials. Ferguson, who has been in touch with Taco Bell, said early last week the company would pull the ad after June 25. Smith said at no time had Taco Bell been asked to take any specific action and claimed spot was scheduled to stop running last Friday all along.
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