The Real Reason Behind Taco Bell And Pizza Hut's Current Feud
Feuds between fast food chains are far from uncommon — and, as a result, have become a serendipitous form of marketing. Random Twitter battles between brands like Old Spice and Taco Bell make for more than easy entertainment, as Business Insider pointed out in 2019. And whether the instigator of the online fight is a social media intern or a longtime staff member, it doesn't seem to matter: These feuds usually seem to work out in someone's favor. Brands going head to head on social media have, in many ways, become the new way to advertise – and thanks to the perennial gift of abundant memes as a byproduct of that, Internet users don't seem to mind.
Well, bring out the popcorn, because another battle between brands is currently underway. This time, the opponents at hand are none other than fast-food rivals Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. The reason for the attack? The return of Taco Bell's widely popular Mexican Pizza. The cult favorite was so beloved that it was added back for good onto the chain's menu starting on September 15, 2022, as TODAY and others have since reported. While this might've meant that all was now well for the lovers of this meat and cheese-laden dish, it quickly proved not to be the case. Enter Pizza Hut.
The Mexican pizza or the Italian taco?
According to Business Insider, it's not just Taco Bell that has a new sworn-worthy menu item — well, sort of. As the outlet reported on September 17, Pizza Hut introduced their latest hot item, the "Italian taco," shortly after Taco Bell's limited-time Mexican Pizza hit locations across the U.S. "Taco Bell, we see your #MexicanPizza, and raise you the #ItalianTaco," Pizza Hut posted in a since-deleted tweet. So, what exactly is The Hut's hot new menu item? Well, it's just a regular piece of pizza folded in half. Yup, you read that right.
The trolling didn't stop there. Pizza Hut also poked fun at Taco Bell — who, according to CNBC, was forced to take the Mexican Pizza off its menu earlier this year due to major supply chain issues — by highlighting the greatest quality of its "new" dish. Per Food & Wine, a spokesperson for Pizza Hut brought this point home while lauding their latest offering, so to speak. "The best part? This nearly unbelievable innovation will never run out. The Italian Taco has been here and will be here forever," said the representative.
This wouldn't be the first time Pizza Hut pulled a publicity stunt. In 2016, the Pizza franchise made waves after it delivered a pizza to the Summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro to celebrate the official opening of its first store on the African continent in Tanzania; three years later, the pizza franchise briefly changed its name to "Pizza Hut Hut" in honor of that year's Super Bowl.