While reading articles online about the 50 Cent lawsuit against Taco Bell, I ran across this story on Gawker about Taco Bell and their love of hip hop or rather their love of the stereotype of it. One of the features on Taco Bell’s website is an interactive game in their “Oustide the Bun” section called “Money Talks”. The game is part of the promotions for their “Why Pay More” campaign. It’s a game that allows you to create a rap name and then generate a rhyme. The “rappers” are these hokie figures whose heads have been replaced with coins and they are rapping about the low prices at Taco Bell. It’s so ridiculous. And just the fact that they are using the phrase “Why Pay Mo’?”. It feeds into the stereotype that the hip hop community is comprised of a bunch of illiterate, uneducated people with poor grammar.
It’s ok to say “more” Taco Bell. In fact, it’s ok to sell cheap tacos without having a gimic like rapping coins. I’m pretty sure $79 cent tacos sell themselves. Although, I’m not sure that I agree with Gawker that the ad is racist; I can certainly agree that it’s offensive to the hip hop community.