Taco Bell has been riding off the “!Yo quiero Taco Bell!” campaign for years. However much you hated that dog, it was a huge success for the brand even at its $500M price tag. Way back in 2003, a jury in Michigan found that the fast food chain had failed to pay the creators, Tom Rinks and Joe Shields, of that damnable talking Chihuahua. They were forced to cough up, but Taco Bell wasn’t going to go down alone. Oh, hell no. The chain decided to sue TBWA Chiat/Day with a claim that the agency was responsible for not paying the duo.
Rinks and Shields are due a total of $42M including damages of various sorts. Was it TBWA or Taco Bell who would have to pay out that cash? On Friday the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals says it’s Taco Bell’s problem. That’s chump change for the brand, whose earnings are around $13B. Could you imagine if TBWA had been on the hook? It would have been devastating.