You Can Get a Free Taco Bell for the Next Five Tuesdays

Taco Bell is giving away free tacos to customers for the next five Tuesdays. To get yours, go to almost any Taco Bell location on August 15, 22, 29, September 5 and 12 and say, “Give me a free Doritos Locos Taco.” No purchase required.

It is part of a “Free Taco Tuesday”/ legal entanglement campaign that has been going on all summer and is related to an alleged trademark dispute with Taco John’s over the trademark for the words “Taco Tuesday”. I didn’t pay attention until the free food came along.

According to corporate kayfabe, Taco John’s took “the bold step of trademarking it in 49 states” and now anyone can talk about “Taco Tuesday” and any restaurant can say “hey, it’s Taco Tuesday” at any time.

I’m not sure which of our 50 states isn’t included, and I don’t know how I feel about using our legal system in a fast food ad campaign – but hey, free tacos, am I right?

How to get free or cheap food from other Mexican restaurants on September 12

While I don’t like getting involved in the viral marketing gimmicks of multinational food service corporations, I do like free tacos so I can take advantage of another offer announced by Taco Bell and DoorDash.

On Sept. 12, Bell is pledging to pay up to $5 million to refund “some portion” of bills to anyone who uses DoorDash to buy Mexican food at any participating retailer. They haven’t released the full details of all of this yet, so there’s still time to plan a mid-September taco party.

Charitable donations to Taco Bell and Taco John

Taco Bell and the Taco Bell Foundation (?) also pledged to donate one million dollars “to support young people who make, sell, eat and celebrate tacos.” (However, it’s like all young people, isn’t it?). This is in response to Taco John’s $40,000 donation to Children of Restaurant Workers (CORE) through the Taco Bell Foundation.