Country music legend Charlie Daniels may be a fan of jokes and japes about a fiddle playing devil, but there’s one thing that to him is no laughing matter: Taco Bell joking about The Illuminati. In a new ad by the fast food company to promote their dollar menu, Taco Bell hypotheses that it couldn’t possibly be them responsible for such an excellently discounted menu, so it must be The Illuminati. Or the Taco Bell oriented wing of The Illuminati, known as The BELLuminati. See what they did there? Charlie Daniels however is not having any of this.
But who/what exactly is The Belluminati? Let this commercial clear things up for you.
All makes sense now, does it not? Well, if that didn’t shine a light on things allow me to explain. The Illuminati was a secret society founded in Bavaria in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt to bring enlightenment to the land. Since then it has gone underground and extended itself into every major government, secret society, and occult organization around the globe trying to establish a New World Order. Popularized in fictional works like Umberto Eco’s Foucault's Pendulum, Robert Shea’s The Illuminatus! Trilogy, and Angelina Jolie’s 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, they really made the jump mainstream with the release of Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons. Coincidental cultural awareness, or sinister methodical normalization?
While a secret powerful organization with its fingers in the pies of the world is no laughing matter, Taco Bell’s CMO Marisa Thalberg begs to differ. When asked about the dollar menu and the Belluminati television spots she thinks of them as, “clever, but it’s also strategic, this powerful connection between the dollar bill and Taco Bell … also, the sort of playful idea of, ‘How do you get into a secret society where enlightened people are enjoying all of this decadence?’ Well, entry is a dollar, admission is a dollar, so it’s a not-so-secret secret society.” So the Illuminati, terrifying clandestine cabal, or adorably loveable group only interested in getting you a great deal on $1 Triple Layer Nachos, Beefy Fritos Burritos, and the upcoming Nacho Fries?
If there is a place to gauge what the Everyman’s opinion of the group is, it is of course online. Is this all just some advertising fun, or all part of a conspiracy to defang the real Illuminati? The internet weighs in, and they are less than pleased.
Not a bunch of happy campers to be sure, but if what they have to say about The Illuminati is true, can you blame them? Is Taco Bell, a company large enough to be a front for the actual Illuminati, under its sway and trying to give itself some good PR? Is this all a conspiracy to have the sheeple acclimate to the idea of a one world government easier, or just a clever way for Taco Bell to sell you some Caramel Apple Empanadas? You’ll have to decide for yourself, but some food for thought: the advertisements claim that there are 20 items on the dollar menu currently, corresponding with the 20 steps on the pyramid on the dollar, but these are lies. There are actually 13 steps on the pyramid and when you go to the Taco Bell website, 21 items listed. This will change to 22 when the new Nacho Fries debut later this month, a mere one item shy of 23, the most sacred number of The Illuminati. Coincidence? To quote Charlie Daniels when asked about their existence, “The whole enchilada is a little too much for me to swallow, but having said that, I do have some very deep suspicions about people who operate behind the scenes and have undue and unmerited influence in the halls of power of the international political scene.”
FNORD.