Taco Bell Dog - Our favorite little chihuahua
The taco bell dog was a popular chihuahua and mascot that was used for advertising for the fast food restaurant. A chihuahua is a breed of dogs that is sometimes associated with Mexico, because tacos are a food that the fast food restaurant serves.
If you have ever seen the commercials on TV, which I’m sure at some point you have, you’ll have noticed that the taco bell dog was sometimes seen wearing a beret or a bandit wearing a sombrero. He would be seen wandering the busy streets, climbing fire escapes and wandering into a person’s home or apartment begging for the fast food. The taco bell dog speaks through special effects and is best know for his popular catch phrase in which he speaks in Spanish. Carlos Alazraqui who starred in Rocko’s Modern Life and Reno 911 was the ever popular voice of the chihuahua.
The taco bell dog became very popular in 1997 and 1998, so much that toys were produced along with all other sorts of memorabilia from keychains, to posters, to bobbleheads that people would put on their dashboards or in the back of their cars. It was basically a pop culture icon.
Of course, some controversy was bound to come about with the taco bell dog and there was a group of Latin Americans who made accusations that the taco bell dog was very stereotypical of the Latin ethnic culture and even though the fast food chain denied it, they stopped using it as an advertisement in July of 2000. They weren’t too public in their decision to stop using the chihuahua and why, they just quietly phased him out. In more recent years, the little chihuahua appeared in a GEICO commercial in 2002 along with the very popular and famous GEICO gecko.
It was rumored that the taco bell dog not longer advertised for the food chain because it had died, but that was quickly put to rest and labeled as false. The taco bell dog did not die, only its days as the mascot came to an end. Gidget, who is actually a female chihuahua, is alive and well and doing some cameo performances here and there in other commercials and movies.
It’s no surprise that the chihuahua breed of dogs became popular after the taco bell dog had its rise to fame. More individuals began buying and adopting the breed. This is fairly common to occur when animals become popular in Hollywood or are made famous through TV.