Irvine, Calif., June 3, 2010 – Its showtime! Taco Bell®, the Official Quick Service Restaurant of the NBA, is about to fast break across your TV screens, as Basketball Hall-of-Famer and Emmy Award-winning commentator Charles Barkley will star in ads for its newly launched $2 Meal Deal.

The ad will premiere during Game One of the NBA Finals on ABC, Thursday, June 3. It will also be seen on the big screen, as it airs in cinema, taking advantage of the summer movie season, which is in full swing nationwide.

The :30 ad plays to Barkley’s signature line “that’s terrible.” He and a friend, who is eating a Taco Bell $2 Meal Deal featuring a Beefy 5-Layer Burrito, are in his recreation room playing billiards when Barkley shakes his head and says, “That’s terrible.” Not sure what’s wrong, the friend questions Charles who responds, “How’s Taco Bell gonna make money off that?” The friend responds, “They should get you to promote it.” After a long pause, Charles enthusiastically agrees, “That’s not terrible.”

“The $2 Meal Deal, with 3 items for $2, is a game changer,” said David Ovens, Chief Marketing Officer, Taco Bell Corp., Irvine, Calif. “In the 1993 NBA Finals, Charles scored a triple double, so he knows about being an NBA game changer. His signature line ‘terrible’ was fertile ground for our creative team to play off of.”

This marks the third ad Charles Barkley has been featured in this year for Taco Bell. Previously, there were two ads to support the NBA Five Buck Box. The first ad, “Poem,” served as a teaser before Football’s Biggest Game and the second “It Rocks” aired during the game as well as throughout February and into March.

Taco Bell is fundamentally changing the QSR value paradigm with the launch of the all-new $2 Meal Deal. While other QSRs tout dollar menus and combos priced at around $3, Taco Bell is breaking through the clutter and redefining value. Its $2 Meal Deal has a low price that won’t break the bank and variety that consumers enjoy via four different, enticing options.

$2 Meal Deal, the latest centerpiece of Taco Bell’s industry-leading Why Pay More® Value Menu, includes one Taco Bell item, a bag of Doritos chips and a medium drink. Available at participating Taco Bell locations nationwide, the $2 Meal Deal is available in the following four different combinations.

• $2 Chicken Burrito Deal with Doritos chips and a medium drink
• $2 DOUBLE DECKER® Taco Deal with Doritos chips and a medium drink
• $2 GORDITA SUPREME® Deal with Doritos chips and a medium drink
• $2 Beefy 5-Layer Burrito Deal with Doritos chips and a medium drink

The Barkley TV ad, created by Draftfcb, Irvine in conjunction with House of Usher, will run nationally throughout June. The spot was directed by Kinka Usher. For only the second time in its history, Taco Bell® will also run the spot in cinema and will run before the upcoming summer blockbusters Get Him to the Greek, Killers, Iron Man 2, Sex in the City 2, Prince of Persia and MacGruber among others. The cinema ad will air on 11,151 digital screens across the U.S. for one week.

This is the second ad created to support Taco Bell’s $2 Meal Deal. The overall campaign is being promoted through an integrated summer campaign that includes TV and radio advertising, in-store promotions, Web sites and social media activity, as well as public relations and enhancements with Taco Bell’s existing sports and entertainment sponsorships. Additional TV advertising, handled through Draftfcb, Irvine, includes :15 and :30 spots that humorously depict our consumers’ question of “Which item in the $2 Meal Deal is free – the Taco Bell item, the chips or the drink?” In-store signage was also handled through Draftfcb, Irvine and digital was handled by R/GA, San Francisco. For more information about $2 Meal Deal, visit www.tacobell.com.

About Taco Bell Corp.
Taco Bell Corp. (“Taco Bell”), a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., (NYSE: YUM), is the nation’s leading Mexican-style quick service restaurant chain. Taco Bell serves tacos, burritos, signature quesadillas, Grilled Stuft Burritos, nachos, and other specialty items such as Crunchwrap Supreme®, in addition to the 79-89-99 Why Pay More!® Value Menu. Taco Bell serves more than 36.8 million consumers each week in nearly 5,600 restaurants in the U.S.