50 Cent is suing Taco Bell because they used his name without permission in a guerilla marketing campaign.
The company issued a challenge to the rapper to change his name for a day to either 79 cents, 89 cents or 99 cents to match their menu prices and promised to donate $10,000 to the charity of his choice if they did.The campaign generated millions of dollars worth of free publicity for the company by dragging the unwilling 50 Cent into their publicity stunt.
50 Cent is now suing the company for millions, claiming they “diluted his good name”.
According to his lawsuit, "As Taco Bell intended, many customers believed that 50 Cent had agreed to endorse Taco Bell`s products. Indeed, postings on numerous Internet `blogs` castigated 50 Cent for `selling out` by his apparent endorsement of Taco Bell."
A spokesman for Taco Bell said that the company ran the campaign in good faith and always intended to donate the money to the charity of his choice.
Fiddy might now do well to make them cough up millions instead of thousands and let his charity really benefit.
