Pete Davidson's Taco Bell Ad Sparks Revolt on Reddit

Reddit users have mixed feelings about Taco Bell. The site's devoted Taco Bell fans are voicing their indignation about the restaurant's new commercial campaign with Pete Davidson, which is spreading to other areas of the website. Furthermore, the ad campaign focuses on Taco Bell's updated and simplified breakfast menu, which offers a variety of breakfast foods, including breakfast burritos, quesadillas, and of course the iconic Crunchwrap. Additionally, the fast-food joint chose Pete Davidson to be the spokesperson for this campaign. In the ad, Davidson emphasizes the new menu's simplicity as well as the structure of a Breakfast Crunchwrap. And although he's distant and refers to the Crunchwrap as a "crunch-thing," perhaps trying a little too hard to be amusing, the ad is generally fine. However, r/LivingMas, a subreddit that serves as an unofficial hub of all things Taco Bell, felt the ad to be unpleasant rather than "fine." For instance, a Reddit user rain6304 broke the ice over the site's displeasure with Davidson's work in a post from yesterday: "I’m a super hardcore [Taco Bell] fan (which is why I’m here lol) but even then the Pete Davidson ad with him talking with his mouth full is absolutely repulsive and makes me want to not eat there. I’m not sure what some women see in him but he is so gross to me personally…. Definitely not a selling point for any product. Does anyone else feel the same?"

More on Redditors' discontent with Davidson's Taco Bell ad

Taco Bell deliberately promoted the offensive advertisement on Reddit, and not as one of the TV commercials. Moreover, in the ad, reposted on Twitter, Davidson's seen haphazardly devouring a Breakfast Crunchwrap while conversing with a full mouth. So, while some viewers found the advertisement off-putting and disgusting, others were just irritated by how frequently they were seeing it. Besides, it's simple to dismiss the response on r/LivingMas as the work of a bunch of bored anonymous Internet people. However, the indignation started to spread to other Reddit sections. Posts on many subreddits, including r/TrueOffMyChest, r/redditads, and r/rant, among others, all express the respective members' disgust for the collaboration between Davidson and Taco Bell. A post on r/YouShouldKnow even suggests blocking the official Taco Bell Reddit account so these ads are no longer visible. Most notably, the size of this phenomenon is what makes it strange. People abhor these adverts a lot. And although Pete Davidson can be obnoxious at times and chatting while your mouth is full of food is disgusting, the backlash toward the campaign’s presence on Reddit is an intriguing example of the power of the Internet and the sum of individual opinions. But regardless of how offensive or irritating the advertisement is, it got people talking, which may have been the plan all along.