That time Taco Bell said it bought the Liberty Bell | This week in Philly history

Ann Marie DiSerafino sat down at her breakfast table on the morning of April 1, 1996, sipping from a cup of coffee and paging through that day’s Inquirer when a full-page advertisement featuring a photo of the Liberty Bell caught her eye.

“In an effort to help reduce the national debt,” the ad read, “Taco Bell is pleased to announce that we have agreed to purchase the Liberty Bell.”

“It will now be called the Taco Liberty Bell,” the ad proclaimed.

DiSerafino, then a spokeswoman for the National Park Service’s Philadelphia office that maintains the historic treasure, panicked.

“I believe I started hyperventilating,” she told The Inquirer in 1996.

Outrage spread across the country, as the ad also appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, and USA Today.

Angry callers flooded The Inquirer and the other newspaper offices, as well as the National Park Service, talk-radio stations, and the fast-food giant’s California headquarters.

Taco Bell, they howled, had crossed the border.

The American people, however, had failed to notice the day’s date.

Got ‘em: Scores of Americans fell for the restaurant chain’s April Fool’s Day joke.

People became even angrier. Some even accused the fast-food giant, widely known for producing a high-quality dining experience at an affordable price (at least in this esteemed Taco Bell connoisseur’s estimation), of displaying bad taste.

“I think it’s in poor taste,” said George Veal, 49, who was videotaping his family at Independence Mall that day in 1996. “Even if it’s a joke, I don’t think that they should take that symbol and use it in an advertisement. I don’t think it’s right.”

The restaurant chain’s marketing people were pumped. The goal was “to appeal to younger people with a rebellious streak,” The Inquirer reported. Mission accomplished.

“Afterward, people thought it was the coolest thing ever,” David Paine, whose public relations firm helped with the campaign, later told The Inquirer. “I think young people like the fact that we pulled a fast one on the establishment.”

Taco Bell’s sales reportedly spiked a few days after the ad ran.

Then-Mayor Ed Rendell, who was never one to miss a fundraising opportunity, asked the company to kick in for a new Liberty Bell pavilion. He convinced the company to cough up a $50,000 donation.

Rendell was no fool.