from it pays for you department
Well, well, the Taco Tuesday battle seems to be heating up fast. After holding and controlling its Taco Tuesday brand for years, the Taco John’s chain has found itself in a battle with Taco Bell, which is asking the trademark office to cancel its rival’s mark because it has become generic. In that latest battle, I noted that NBA megastar LeBron James, apparently a big fan on social media to celebrate Taco Tuesday, tried to get himself a trademark for the phrase. When it was denied, part of the USPTO’s reasoning was that the term was too general to trademark. If LeBron wanted to press the issue, he could use this as a weapon to push the trademark office to cancel Taco John’s mark.
But he didn’t do that. And now Taco Bell has taken up the fight itself, asking the USPTO to remove the trademark. But it is not so all Taco Bell does. Instead, the company teamed up with LeBron to bring the fight to the public with a commercial that premiered during the May 22 Lakers/Nuggets playoff game.
“Taco Tuesday is a tradition that everyone should be able to celebrate. All the restaurants, all the families, all the businesses, everybody,” LeBron James said in a press release. “Taco Tuesdays create opportunities that bring people together in so many ways, and it’s a holiday that no one should have.”
According to a press release, James also stars in a new ad titled “Taco Bleep” as part of the Taco Tuesday liberation experience, so be sure to keep an eye out for that campaign on your TV starting May 22.
And here’s the commercial in all its goofy glory.
Is a Change.org petition going to sway the USPTO when it comes to its decision? Probably not directly, no. But what Taco Bell is doing, which is quite clever, is creating a public campaign that could lead not so much to the USPTO as to pressure on Taco John’s itself. Using a big name like LeBron, who ultimately wants to have fun with Taco Tuesdays, and making the public realize that Taco John’s is the barrier to everyone being able to use the catchphrase could cause enough public embarrassment for Taco John’s to turn around. the course on its own.
Or it won’t, and the Taco Tuesday wars will continue. But if there is enough public outcry about this trademark that shouldn’t be a trademark, well, I expect that will make a difference.
Featured in: advertising, lebron james, taco tuesday, brand
Companies: taco bell, taco johns