Taco Bell’s Super Bowl stunt (mostly) ditches celebs to put fans in the spotlight
At least one celeb is doing her best to sneak in.

Taco Bell’s PR team has a fan-forward game plan for the Super Bowl: Ditch the A-list endorsements (well, mostly, anyway), sideline the over-the-top special effects, and let its biggest hype squad — its customers — take center stage.
The brand installed special cameras in its drive-thru lines, then invited customers to show off their late-night drive-thru energy for a chance to appear in its 2025 Super Bowl commercial. More than 3,000 people answered the call, delivering everything from spontaneous dance-offs to full-blown, burrito-fueled celebrations.
We chatted with Ronald Quintero, senior associate manager of PR at Taco Bell, about the campaign and the PR strategy around it.
Customer-centric, literally
The gordita purveyor didn’t forego celebrity involvement entirely. Doja Cat — known on social media as a longtime Taco Bell loyalist and advocate for the brand’s Mexican Pizza — stars in the teaser spot for the campaign.
In the teaser, called “Photobomb,” she is shown attempting (and failing) to crash the all-fans, no-celebs moment, popping up from the bushes to get in on customers’ pics and then arguing as the drive-thru attendant tells her to beat it.
And she’s not the first celeb to feel the sting of rejection. It all started a month ago, when a social video dropped showing longtime Taco Bell celebrity partner LeBron James learning he was snubbed for the Big Game ad.
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But the biggest focus of the campaign is the fan content captured in the drive thru.
Some customers (who the brand says can be “slightly famous but not Doja Cat famous”) showed up in taco-themed outfits, others turned their orders into full-scale performances, and at least one couple used the moment to renew their vows — with a Crunchwrap in hand.
The campaign has a heavy social media element. It will roll out across digital and social platforms like TikTok, Meta platforms and YouTube in addition to its 30-second ad airing during the game. Quintero said the campaign was designed to tap into what fans were already sharing organically on their social accounts.
“Our fans have always amazed us with the incredible content they create, especially in our drive-thru, where so many Taco Bell moments are already being shared on social media. That organic creativity gave us the direction to spotlight how fans truly ‘Live Más’ and tap into that authentic behavior,” he said, referencing the brand’s long-running English-Spanish tagline.
Social-forward campaigns are nothing new, but that piece is almost a requisite for brands looking to stand out among other Super Bowl ad contenders and earn a return on the hefty investment. After all, as Quintero points out, even though it’s one of the most-watched TV moments of the year, plenty of people don’t spend Super Bowl Sunday glued to the game, but are instead second screening or not tuned in at all. Taco Bell’s stunt offers a twist on UGC that has the potential to reach beyond sports viewers.
Other brands have been aiming for interactivity and customer rewards around the Big Game in recent years (whether they’re running official spots or not), from Miller Lite’s running QR codes to DoorDash’s ridiculously long promo code.
Scoring goals
The team hopes to reward loyalty and expressions of fandom by making customers the stars when it’s more typical to see celebrities during Big Game commercial breaks — and by attracting customers who might want to get in on the action.
“We also want this campaign to reach as many people as possible, across diverse audiences, and bring new fans into the fold,” he said. “We’ll be looking at media impressions, social reach and the overall buzz to gauge how well we achieved that.”
That said, Taco Bell obviously isn’t completely abandoning the usual Super Bowl playbook. Doja Cat’s winking cameo in Photobomb (and, if we had to guess, in the final ad as well) covers both bases and scores the brand the tried-and-true hype that big names bring while still letting fans take the main stage.
“Our first goal is to drive home Taco Bell’s reputation as a fan-first brand,” he said. “Everything about this campaign is designed to celebrate the people who love Taco Bell, and we’re looking to see that reflected in coverage, social conversations, and fan engagement. We also want to ensure Taco Bell is part of the broader Super Bowl conversation, standing out with a unique campaign that doesn’t follow the standard Super Bowl playbook of celebrity-centric moments.”
Quintero said the brand’s creative, PR and social media teams had to collaborate closely to set the stunt in motion, generate hype among influencers and users, and ensure they drummed up enough participation to make the stunt work.
“We’ve been in lockstep since the jump,” Quintero said. “In addition to creative connectivity, we’ve also worked hand in hand with paid, social and creator workstreams, as well.”
The teaser spot was created by Biite, Taco Bell’s creative agency that focuses on cultural activations, and directed by long-time commercial and music video director Dave Meyers, his first work for the brand.
The final commercial will air during the third quarter of the Super Bowl on February 9. Whether and to what extent Doja Cat and LeBron manage to sneak their way in remains to be seen.