Super Bowl Retro Week: Taco Bell - Lions

This Sunday is the Super Bowl.  You know what that means?  That's right, it's Super Bowl Retro Week here at The Ad Pundit!

For the third year in a row, we're going to take a look at some Super Bowl ads from years past.  Why?  Because there's nothing quite as awesome as nostalgia.

The first retro ad aired during the 2007 Super Bowl, and I will admit that it was a personal favorite of mine:

We start off normally enough with a couple of lions talking about the campers and their Taco Bell steak grilled tacquitos.

Wait, did I say we started off normally enough?  I must have somehow overlooked the fact that HOLY CRAP, THERE ARE TALKING LIONS!

Okay, maybe I should calm down a bit.  Maybe this is just a case where the lions are actually speaking some sort of lion language, (Do lions have their own language?) and it's being translated for our benefit. 

I kind of understand why they would do that.  In all honesty, a commercial featuring a couple of lions growling at each other probably wouldn't be too interesting, and it probably wouldn't do much to push Taco Bell's product.

But if that's the case, why does the lion mention Ricardo Montalban?  How would the lions even know who Ricardo Montalban is?

Even if the lions had somehow been able to watch television, there is no way they should have known who Ricardo Montalban is...unless the lions can understand English.

Which brings me back to...HOLY CRAP THERE ARE TALKING LIONS!


Rating - 3.5 TVs - I like this commercial.  But I'll be honest with you: I'd really like to know more about how the lions are able to speak and understand English.

I decided to add an extra star to the rating for the excellent voice over work done by the esteemed Mr. Montalban.  That man was a class act all the way.

R.I.P. Mr. Roarke