Ay, Chihuahua! Taco Bell’s Dog Is Pushed Aside

The little dog’s days as the central character in Taco Bell commercials are dwindling, but its feisty Chihuahua is staying on in a supporting role.

The Irvine-based fast-food restaurant chain plans to introduce a new advertising tag line later this year that emphasizes the food and its price, spokeswoman Laurie Gannon said Monday. “The dog is staying in the advertising,” she said, although its role will change.

“We’ll use the dog in a different sense to draw attention to the food,” she said, declining to be more specific.

The tag line debuting in commercials airing in late December will be “Grande taste. Loco price. Only at Taco Bell.” Taco Bell ads have not used any single theme in recent years, Gannon said.

Taco Bell owns or franchises about 7,000 Mexican-style restaurants worldwide. It has featured a talking Chihuahua in more than two dozen ads over the past two years.

Gannon also said Taco Bell has sold more than 20 million miniature plush toys of the dog that recite some of the phrases it has uttered in ads like “Yo quiero Taco Bell,” which means “I want Taco Bell.” The toys sell at the restaurants for $3 to $4.

She said four more versions of the toys uttering phrases heard in commercials this year will go on sale in mid-November.

Taco Bell sales per store grew at a slower pace in the second quarter. Sales per store open at least a year were up a slim 1% in the second quarter after rising 4% in the first quarter and 3% for all of 1998.

In 1997, the year before the Chihuahua debuted nationally in advertising, sales per store grew 2%.

Gannon said the change in ad plans didn’t reflect concerns over sales growth, however.

“We are just making a change in direction,” she said. “Food, taste and value are what they want to draw attention to.”