← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Robbie
Thread ID: 4016 | Posts: 7 | Started: 2002-12-14
2002-12-14 18:58 | User Profile
[url=http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/demo...ion/4735068.htm]http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/demo...ion/4735068.htm[/url]
2002-12-16 01:35 | User Profile
Originally posted by Robbie@Dec 14 2002, 18:58 [url=http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/demo...ion/4735068.htm]http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/demo...ion/4735068.htm[/url]
Your link doesn't work. That is why I like to post the full text of articles.
2002-12-16 02:15 | User Profile
Frederick William I--Found the article. Here goes. (P.S.--Guess what the writers do for a living).
Taco Bell disrespects Latino community again By Coral Lopez Marcelo and Adelina Anthony KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE
Taco Bell is undermining the Latino community - again. As if the use of a Spanish-talking dog to market pseudo-Mexican food was not insulting enough, now a major Spanish-language radio station in Los Angeles has played a voice-over commercial for Taco Bell that uses protest language as a marketing tool.
The commercial mocks the organizing of concerned citizens who yell "huelga, huelga," which means "strike, strike" in Spanish. The ad then goes on to say that people are protesting at Taco Bell because they want the best food for their children. By doing so, it is ridiculing the real-life plight of many farm laborers.
Currently, the Coalition for Immokalee Workers, a community-based worker organization in Florida, is leading a national boycott against Taco Bell in hopes of eliminating the inhumane conditions of farm workers. The coalition is asking Taco Bell to pay its tomato distributor an additional penny for every pound it buys.
This one-cent raise would mean an increase in pay for farm laborers in Florida who work seven days a week for less than $7,500 a year. Aside from this sub-living wage, they get no health-care benefits, no sick-leave days and no overtime pay, and they're not afforded the right to organize.
The cost to the public, according to the coalition, would be only one-fourth of a cent more per chalupa they purchase. Although the boycott is now in its 20th month and has garnered the support of thousands throughout the nation, Taco Bell has yet to make efforts toward meeting the demands of these workers. They are not only being ignored; they are also being ridiculed by Taco Bell's choice of marketing.
The radio commercial belittles the Latino community's history of struggle in this country. As the United Farm Workers showed during the Chicano movement in the '60s, protests, boycotts and strikes were effective measures to bring large corporations to the bargaining table. Now, Taco Bell is trying to co-opt that message.
The other group we need to hold accountable is our own Latino community. Sadly, Latino actors and radio stations that agree to participate and generate these kinds of commercials do so at the cost of their own community pride.
Ironically, Latino actors are indebted to the United Farm Workers struggle and the subsequent rise of El Teatro Campesino, which helped create a space for Latinos in the arts and entertainment business.
Consumers, distributors, actors and corporations all need to develop a consciousness about marketing strategies that compromise human dignity. If not, what's next? A parody of Dr. Martin Luther King's civil-rights speech: "I have a dream - to buy a chalupa"?
Coral Lopez Marcelo and Adelina Anthony are co-founders of MY LUCHA, a nonprofit organization that creates educational and artistic programs for the South Central L.A. community. They can be reached at pmprojprogressive.org.
2002-12-16 03:08 | User Profile
Was it Taco Bell (a friend of mine called it "Taco Hell") that introduced that stupid chihuahau? I'm surprised the pinkos, chicano's AND animal rights activists didn' stand up for that one.
Sounds like just another chicano activist group trying to shake down another company. I don't know why Taco Bell has any special obligation to pay a one cent tariff on its tomatoes, over and above MacDonald's or Burger King. But I guess they'd say I'm just an stupid old gringo.
2002-12-16 03:18 | User Profile
What's this "pseudo-Mexican" crap? Not enough lard? ;)
2002-12-16 03:43 | User Profile
Was it Taco Bell (a friend of mine called it "Taco Hell") that introduced that stupid chihuahau? I'm surprised the pinkos, chicano's AND animal rights activists didn' stand up for that one.
My peronal hope is that the various liberal cause-of-the-month clubs will turn against each other. There have been opportunities for this--such as that story a while back about the "racist" police dog that could distinguish between Whites and Blacks. Some liberal wanted the dog destroyed. I was hoping the PETA types would square off against the diversity-mongers.
The cost to the public, according to the coalition, would be only one-fourth of a cent more per chalupa they purchase.
I wouldn't pay a fourth of a cent for the whole chalupa itself, never mind.
2002-12-17 22:38 | User Profile
Originally posted by PaleoconAvatar@Dec 15 2002, 21:43 My peronal hope is that the various liberal cause-of-the-month clubs will turn against each other. There have been opportunities for this--such as that story a while back about the "racist" police dog that could distinguish between Whites and Blacks. Some liberal wanted the dog destroyed. I was hoping the PETA types would square off against the diversity-mongers.
Indeed, we live in interesting times. When I was young[er], I used to wonder why such was a curse to ancient Chinese; now I know. :P