TV commercial could have America saying 'Taco night in Taconite'
You knew it was going to happen sometime – a pun on the Mesabi Iron Range town of Taconite, Minnesota, and "taco night."
A national Mexican food brand is ready to take the wordplay to the extreme.
According to the Scenic Range News Forum, an executive from Fallon, the Minneapolis ad agency that represents Old El Paso, pitched an idea for a "Taco Night in Taconite" TV commercial to the Taconite City Council on Monday night.
The paper says the company wants to pay the town $10,000 to film locals enjoying Old El Paso products on a "community night of food and fun," but the plan has at least one critic – Councilor Deacon Kyllander, who worries the city will be called "taco night" after appearing in the commercial.
Old El Paso happens to be a property of General Mills, also based in the Twin Cities.
As the town's leaders mull over the proposal, blogger Aaron J. Brown of Minnesota Brown writes, "What kind of city council on this planet would deny their citizens free tacos?"
He notes fears that the commercial might somehow garble pronunciation of the town's name, but adds locals are "still free to say TACK-o-nite and TACK-oes" if they wish.
