Taco Bell Font - Third Rail
Fried fish, salsa, a corn tortilla, a squeeze of lime—we all know what tacos are like: delicious. That’s why, in 1951, a San Bernardino hotdog-and-hamburger hustler named Glen Bell decided to diversify his offerings. But Bell was never satisfied with selling normal tacos—he was different, he sold crunchy tacos. By the early ‘60s, Bell had diverted all of his time to tacos. By 1970, over 300 Taco Bell locations graced the western United States.
What font does Taco Bell use in advertising?
Bell soon earned the attention of Pepsi. In 1978, the soda-pop purveyors purchased each and every one of Taco Bell’s 868 locations, and grew the brand across the country. This marked a shift in Taco Bell’s marketing—this was outlaw fast-food; the preferred fare of BMX riders, Mountain Dew drinkers, and the kind of crazy renegades who’d dare to dunk deep-fried tortillas in Doritos cheese powder.
To express that radical spirit on marketing material from food packaging, to signs, to advertising, Taco Bell has used BLKBK’s font Third Rail. A hand-drawn, textured font; the swift motions of the brush used to render it capture and express a vital energy. This all caps style is an homage to the ‘80s, to record and VHS covers, to the hip hop and punk cultures that flourished in that decade. Third Rail is the ideal font to express how Taco Bell is different.