• The Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Thursday, April 21, 2011 10:16 AM

With a Montgomery, Alabama law firm dropping a lawsuit disparaging both Taco Bell's advertising and the quality of its meats, the Yum Brands chain has launched a new ad campaign -- disparaging the law firm.  One of the campaign's first volleys --- a full-page print ad -- appeared in The Wall Street Journal, and the paper's law blogger Ashby Jones noted that "most large corporate clients would use the voluntary dropping of a lawsuit as an opportunity to do, well, nothing. To quietly let the matter drop and move on with other matters at hand."

But Yum's anything but mum. The company, in releasing its quarterly earnings, pointed out a 2% decline in Taco Bell sales over the past two months, which it blamed on the lawsuit.  "We...did not plan for a significant reversal in sales trends at Taco Bell due to false claims made about our food quality that resulted in negative publicity," Yum chief executive David Novak was quoted as saying in another WSJarticle.  

The headline of the ad in WSJ and other papers asked the law firm for an apology, shouting in 50-point type: "Would it kill you to say you're sorry?"  And some of the body copy read, "You got it wrong, and you're probably feeling pretty bad right about now. But you know what always helps? Saying to everyone, "I'm sorry."

So Jones (or at least the WSJ's editorial "we") called the lead lawyer of the opposition, and reported, "He declined to comment."

In addition to the Journal, Taco Bell's ads are appearing in The New York Times, USA Today and several local papers -- including the Montgomery Advertiser. There are also Spanish-language ads, an online campaign, and a video running on YouTube and Facebook.

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