gfish: (Default)
gfish ([personal profile] gfish) wrote2003-04-01 03:04 pm

4-1-1996

Stolen from here by way of Kuro5hin.


The Taco Liberty Bell
In 1996 the fast food chain Taco Bell took out a full page ad in the New York Times to announce that they were purchasing the Liberty Bell and renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Their reason for doing this was to "do their part to reduce the country's debt." In a related release, the company pointed out that corporations had been adopting highways for years, and that Taco Bell was simply "going one step further by purchasing one of the country's greatest historic treasures." Thousands of people called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the Liberty Bell was housed to angrily protest the selling of the bell. Taco Bell kept a straight face until noon, at which point it revealed that the earlier press releases were jokes. Soon afterwards Mike McCurry, the White House spokesperson, responded to the jest by declaring that the federal government would also be "selling the Lincoln Memorial to Ford Motor Company and renaming it the Lincoln-Mercury Memorial." The hoax paid off for Taco Bell. Their sales during the first week of April shot up by over half a million dollars.


Can you image Ari Fleischer doing anything (intentionally) humorous? I miss the Clinton administration.

[identity profile] xiadyn.livejournal.com 2003-04-01 10:09 pm (UTC)(link)
I suspect that if Ari Fleischer tried to be funny, it would just come across as sad and pathetic. I'm not sure how that compares to his current sliminess..

[identity profile] gfish.livejournal.com 2003-04-02 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
I think the two of us spend far too much time disliking Ari Fleischer.

[identity profile] gfish.livejournal.com 2003-04-02 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
...but it's so easy!

[identity profile] gfish.livejournal.com 2003-04-02 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
And just plain good for the spirit.