Taco Bell blatantly rips off Kidrobot
Posted by rondostar on September 2nd, 2009
Take a look at the new prize Taco Bell is giving away in their kid’s meals. They are called Bellhedz. There’s no question that these toys draw extreme (if not exclusive) inspiration from Kidrobot’s Dunny line of vinyl toys. I am conflicted in how I feel about this move. Part of me thinks it’s a cool idea and makes me smile to see the vinyl toy culture’s reach expand this far. The other part of me feel’s like all this will do is cheapen the culture. I hate to use this example, but you saw the same thing happen with Beanie Babies. It also reminds me of when everyone started ripping off Garbage Pail Kids and MadBalls.
It’s amazing how much care they put into stealing this idea. Take a closer look at the box above to see some of the other designs in the series. Will Kidrobot respond with any legal action? Or will they just stand flattered? Time will tell.
UPDATE: Kidrobot responds to Taco Bell’s Bellhedz with a Rally in NYC tomorrow where they will be giving away over 1,000 FREE Dunnys plus more!
Rally Photo Coverage can be found here.
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That looks more like a Munny than a Dunny to me, but I guess they’re pretty similar.
Yeah, I thought about using the Munny comparison except the Munnies are blank without designs. So the Dunny comparison won out.
NERD!
they didn’t “think outside the bun” this time i guess
i’ll trade you Bell Hedz #s 3D, 4B, & all the 2s for that Huck Gee Golden Ticket Dunny..
i’m watching bellhedz.com with baited breath..
I think these look neat but I can see why people will get their panties in a knot. I guess the only way to make these official Urban Vinyl toys is to make them as close to a Dunny as they can. If they didn’t I don’t think anyone would notice.
J
I like what’s going on here.
kid robot stole their ideas from the japanese vinyl toy scene.. *shrug*
Great. Just great. This is REALLY going to help fans of kidrobot NOT look like Beanie Baby freaks. Awesome.
Rumor has it that Kidrobot is planning a protest.
Interest thread going down in the Kidrobot forums. My photos are everywhere.
http://forums.kidrobot.com/viewtopic.php?t=145599&sid=4879dc524ec609149c706301b7cc4c7c
Bell Hedz? Look more like Cock Hedz to me.
Everyone seems to forget that beanie babies weren’t created by designers…I hope KR and all the artists who have been ripped off sue. In the meantime, don’t forget to have your server sign your bellhead
[...] Bellhedz Posted by rondostar on September 3rd, 2009 // So, it’s been one day since my Bellhedz photos were leaked and majorly circulated over the internet causing an uproar in the designer vinyl community. One day [...]
drocalate is a foul-mouth nun.
by the way: simiansoul.com doesn’t have any Kidrobot Dunnies nor BELLHEDZ, but it’s awesome.
just sayin…
[...] This post was Twitted by Dennis_Nguyen [...]
Now you can design your own Bellhed:
http://www.tacobell.com/kidsmeals/bellhedz/images/bellhedz_001.jpg
[...] This post was Twitted by whiteknee [...]
[...] This post was Twitted by victoriaPan [...]
[...] this page was mentioned by Victoria Flúx (@victoriapan), Marc-André Lavoie (@malavoie), Jil Rastello (@jilrastello), Josh Eck (@joshwritescopy), Jeff W. Whitney (@whiteknee) and others. [...]
HELLO!! These are kids toys. Who cares!! I would like to see the bunch of you idiots get more passionate about our problems here America. Like the lack of a good health care system, bad economy, etc. WTF!
OC Girl, have you even looked at any of the other material on this blog?
Blaaaaggggg
BOYCOTT TACO BELL UNTIL THE BELL HEDZ ARE DEAD. This Boycott started yesterday and will continue until they remove all Bell Hedz from all locations. Thousands have already joined in this boycott. MIKKO MERONEN of Strottman should have thought twice before ripping off Kid Robot.
I love how this protest has pretty much fed the fires for the BellHedz. If the silly, elitist toy snobs hadn’t caused such a fuss, these things would have been forgotten within a week. Now Taco Bell stores are reporting sell-outs before the toys even hit street date! Go BellHedz!!!!!!!!!!!!
TACO BELL BOYCOTT WEEK 2
My heart goes out to all of the people at Kid Robot that MIKKO MERONEN OF STROTTMAN ripped off. Several industry sources have confirmed that Kid Robot has issued a cease and desist letter to Taco Bell, and Taco Bell has been cooperative. I have received thousands of emails from people joining the boycott until Taco Bell removes all Bell Hedz from all locations. The public is tired of corporate scandals where big companies pick on the small guy. Taco Bell has an opportunity to do the right thing here. First, they need to issue a public apology and remove all Bell Hedz. Second, they need to settle with Kid Robot. Finally, they need to show that they do not associate with companies that rip people off and hurt their livelyhoods. The Taco Bell investors will be hurt by the fallout of this as well, similar to the Bernie Madoff investors. MIKKO MERONEN AND STROTTMAN have been around long enough to know how badly this will hurt Kid Robot. Yet, they had no creative ideas of their own and ripped them off. On their website it says they understand what motivates and inspires kids. Is teaching kids to steal motivating and inspiring? MIKKO MERONEN thinks so. Finally, here is my advice to the STROTTMAN employees that keep trying to save their jobs by writing comments on here. It’s time to dust off your resume and make a run for the border!
[...] Via. This entry was written by babysmash, posted on Sep 17, 2009 at 4:55 pm, filed under Art, Funny, Toys and tagged Dunny, Kid Robot, Rip Off, Vinyl Toys. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL. « Little Red [...]
This makes me want Taco Bell. Well played, TB.
I think it’s great that Taco Bell has put more edge into their kid’s toys. Creating thinly veiled novelty sex toys is briliant. Young people today are more sophisticated about sexuality and this hits the mark. Congradulations Taco Bell! Or should I say Dildo Bell? Ps If Taco Bell is going to sell sex toys will Spencer’s Gifts start selling tacos?
TACO BELL BOYCOTT WEEK 3
Congratulations to all of you who continue to join the boycott! As of today, YUM BRANDS stock is down -6.13% since the boycott began. Taco Bell has seen their profits tumble since the boycott began and they will keep going down. During the same time, Del Taco profits have doubled. None of this would have happened if Taco Bell would have done the right thing and apologized and pulled their rip off designs off the shelf. The boycott continues to grow in numbers and more and more customers are switching to Del Taco. Our industry sources tell us that STROTTMAN has been secretly interviewing creative directors from neighboring agencies to replace MIKKO MERONEN. We think this is a good start and a public apology should follow. We will continue to boycott Taco Bell until they remove all Bell Hedz from all locations. Kid Robot’s lawsuit against Taco Bell and STROTTMAN will only get bigger the longer the Bell Hedz are on the shelf. The people have voted with their pocket books. Hopefully the good that will come out of this is that future rip off artists will think twice and not want to join MIKKI MERONEN on the wall of shame.
Kidrobot sucks! Get a real toy.
[...] Either you intended to return to my place and just kindly let yourself in, or you really liked my Kid Robot key chain, or you intended to come back later to steal my car. Well, the key chain is your only win [...]
[...] we have all witnessed lately, collectible toys are extremely popular. I couldn’t really tell you why people find it [...]
[...] rondostar scooped the entire world on the Taco Bell Bell Hedz fiasco (To this day, we still haven’t done anything quite as citizen journalism-ish as this. It was a banner moment for us.) [...]