Court upholds order for Taco Bell to pay mascot creators

[Viking Prince]

This is alot of cash for the dog of an idea. To paraphrase Yakov Smirnoff -- What a country!!!

Former canine superstar Dinky, whose winning slogan was: "Yo quiero Taco Bell!" - that is - "I want Taco Bell!" (AP (file))

The wisecracking Chihuahua who earned millions for Taco Bell Corp. has a new slogan: "Yo quiero mi dinero!" - I want my money!

A federal appeals court has ruled that Taco Bell is liable for $42 million in breach-of-contract awards to two Michigan men who created the diminutive mascot that starred in the Irvine, Calif., fast-food giant's $500-million advertising campaign in the 1990s.

TV commercials featured the dog decked out as a beret-sporting revolutionary or bandit in sombrero, stirring some controversy as a derogatory depiction of Mexicans. But the spots featuring the Chihuahua and voice-over artist Carlos Alazraqui were phenomenally successful. The talking dog's refrain, "Yo quiero Taco Bell," became a pop-culture punch line, as well as "Drop the chalupa!" and "Viva gorditas!"

The ads stopped running in 2000, freeing the dog, named Gidget, for further fame, with roles in "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde" and Geico insurance ads.

Dispute over the rights to market the sassy Chihuahua began in 1998, when Joseph Shields and Thomas Rinks of Grand Rapids, Mich., filed suit alleging breach of contract. The developers of a "psycho Chihuahua" cartoon had been in talks with Taco Bell advertising agents to adapt the character for TV spots when, the lawsuit claimed, Taco Bell took the idea to another ad agency, TBWA Chiat/Day Inc.

In June 2003, a federal jury in Michigan ordered Taco Bell to pay the creators $30 million, and a federal judge tacked on nearly $12 million more in interest three months later. The judgments prompted Taco Bell, a unit of Yum Brands Inc., to sue TBWA, arguing that the ad agency was liable for the disputed content.

On Friday, the San Francisco-based federal appeals court ruled that Taco Bell, not TBWA, was responsible for the ads and the awards owed to the Wrench agency owned by Shields and Rinks.

Asked if Taco Bell planned to appeal, company spokesman Rob Poetsch said, "We just received the opinion today and are reviewing our options."

[Mikelus Trento]

If corporations had been around at the time of Jesus, he would have thrown them out of the temple for being as corrupt as the money-lenders.

For example...

I am an Optometrist, and recently a handful of my patients I had prescribed contact lenses for, using the best brand that there is, called in to report they preferred their old brands. Fair enough, and easy to fix, but.....

As I notified Vistakon (parent company Johnson & Johnson) of this, the local rep immediately said it must be something wrong we are doing (I have 33 years experience as an optometrist btw).

And then this morning I received mail from J&J saying I was one of a lucky 300 ODs in America who will be receiving $25-$50/month to join a little focus group they have.

I am anxious for the rep to visit me again so I can tell him exactly what I think of this great opportunity.

btw, vendor reps (usually very young folks) hate me since they are never able to successfully use their company tactics on me. hehehe

[MathiasOfAthens]

I might have read the article too fast but here is what I got.

Two men with the idea for this mascot character entered into talks with Taco Bell on advertising using this dog.

Then Taco Bell went with the idea and sign on with another Advertising company to create this character.

However, if no contract was sign with the two men then how did it become a breach of contract.

The two men must of proved it was their idea to begin with but there has to be a contract for the two guys to win here.

Usually the fine is suppose to be a proportion of the money earned, in this case millions. Anyway, the dog wasn't the mens, allegedly only the idea. But the idea was given to another advertising firm who created the ads themselves. So unless Taco Bell execs were directing the ads then really the ads were created by TBWA.