Taco Bell: Transphobic?

UPDATE: Taco Bell has issued a statement clarifying the epic fail that lies behind this radio advertisement. Their official statement: "We are very concerned to have learned that over the weekend some stations were airing a radio ad that we instructed them to remove on January 14. In the process of replacing the ad, we discovered that some stations inadvertently ran the original commercial. We sincerely apologize that this ad ran again and offended people. We’re in the process of contacting all of our radio partners to ensure that the original ad never airs again." Kudos to everyone who put pressure on the company, as well as to GLAAD for their work behind the scenes. Together we sent the message to Taco Bell that we're listening, and that transphobic advertisements won't be tolerated.

Before you reach for your next Chalupa or Nachos Bell Grande, you might want to take a second and ask Taco Bell why they like their commercials with a side of transphobia. Earlier this month, Taco Bell was taken to task for running a radio commercial that suggested transgender people were gross. The company had vowed to pull the ad off the airwaves, and offered a short apology for folks who were offended.

Perhaps it was a nice apology, but now it appears that it was meaningless. According to the Advocate, a similar version of the advertisement that suggested trans folks were gross ran on radio stations over the weekend in Los Angeles. And perhaps Indiana, too. That has activists asking Taco Bell a hard question: WTF?

The ad in question may be short, but it's power to offend still runs deep. As BorderHouse blog writes, the original ad followed this storyboard: "Some male tells a female (presumably his wife or girlfriend) that it’s a surprise that there is nacho cheese in a layer of the Taco Bell burrito.  The woman responds with “Well, I have a surprise for you.  I was born male, my name was Claudio” and her voice is lowered several octaves.  After which, the male says “Ew.”

Not funny, Taco Bell. And even more offensive is that you had promised to pull the ad off the air, only to let it run again this past weekend. Now it's time to send Taco Bell a message -- pull this advertisement off the air NOW, apologize AGAIN for sending a message that trans folks deserve an "Ew," and do something within your corporate structure to deal with this systemic failure of discrimination.

Autumn Sandeen over at Pam's House Blend tells it like it is here. Taco Bell has some major explaining to do. "Taco Bell has a lot of explaining to do, and I know I would sure like to hear the explanation of the major fail. Frankly, they owe the LGBT community -- and especially trans people -- more than an explanation at this point: Taco Bell needs written corporate policy that includes gender identity and expression antidiscrimination language. Otherwise, I see something like this major fail this happening again," Autumn writes.

Autumn's correct. It's one thing for this ad to be created in the first place. It's another thing that executives gave it permission to run on the air. And it's yet another thing to have to apologize for airing the ad, only to run another version of it in subsequent weeks. Either Taco Bell is not listening to demands that the ad is offensive, or they just don't care.

Let Taco Bell know that transphobia has no place on the radio waves. It also has no place in their corporate structure. After two epic fails on this issue, Taco Bell needs to dig a little deeper than just a "we're sorry."

Photo credit: soundman1024