It’s so refreshing — like a pina colada Fruitista! — to see something like this happen. In this, a time of $3-million-per-30-second Super Bowl commercials and huge athlete product endorsements, Mark Sanchez enhances his regular-guy image by giving his favorite fast food joint a free shout-out on national TV (well, cable). The Taco Bell chihuahua would be so proud right now.
Dawn Kotowski, general manager of the Taco Bell restaurant near the SUNY-Cortland campus where the Jets hold training camp, one day last summer asked Sanchez if he would wear a Taco Bell baseball cap at practice, hoping it would be seen on HBO’s Hard Knocks. From Sports Business Journal:
Sanchez frequently visited the restaurant for a chicken taco and chicken burrito, hold the tomatoes. Sanchez developed his fondness for Taco Bell growing up in Mission Viejo, Calif., minutes from the company’s headquarters.
“She really thought there was no way he would do it,” said Will Bortz, senior manager of public relations and sponsorships at Taco Bell.
Two things happened here: I just became a big Mark Sanchez fan. And Dawn Kotowski now “has hand” at Taco Bell, as they say on Seinfeld. Oh, make that three things; see you after lunch.
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Taco Bell’s non-endorsement [Sports Business Journal]
