The Poison Pen

If there has ever been a better TV promotion than the one pulled off by Taco Bell during the World Series, I can’t remember it. For those of you on another planet, Taco Bell said it would give one free taco to everyone in the U.S. if any player stole a base in the World Series. When Red Sox rookie Jacoby Ellsbury stole second base uncontested, the freebie foodfest was on. In all, 5,800 Taco Bell locations participated in the promotion, which received great buzz from the outset. The brilliance of the promotion was reinforced when Red Sox teammates Royce Clayton and Coco Crisp were caught on tape in the dugout, discussing the logistics of policing a giveaway of such mammoth proportions. “How are they gonna keep track?”, one asked. “You could go all around the country, stopping at all of the Taco Bells, and saying ‘I ain’t got my taco yet.” Taco Bell, of course, had a plan for such antics: it required freeloaders to show up at a Taco Bell between 2 pm and 5 pm on October 30, 2007 in order to claim a taco. Joe Topolosky, pictured here, was one of the many thousands of people to claim the prize. Joe “beat” the Myrtle Beach, S.C. Taco Bell outlet for a taco while wearing his Yankee Hater cap # 14055 (yes, our caps are numbered on the inside label for authenticity purposes!). Most Yankee fans passed on the free taco, not interested in consuming anything related to a Sox championship. Of course, most of them consider tacos too dangerous a food to eat anyway, after that choking epidemic in 2004.