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Taco Bell Halts 'Tarot Card' Promotion

By Rusty Pugh and Jody Brown
February 1, 2002

(AgapePress) - A national fast-food chain has stopped a promotion featuring cards that resemble tarot cards, which are associated with the occult.

Earlier this week, AgapePress reported on a promotion at Taco Bell that involved occult symbols. The company's "Cardcaptors" program involved the use of "Clow Cards," which are similar in appearance to tarot cards used in occult practices. Following that report, Taco Bell's national promotions director Lori Gannon says the company has halted the program following customers' complaints. She says it was a mistake.

"It's a cartoon program that's not meant to have anything to do with witchcraft, but we do see how consumers thought [the promotion] could have been misconstrued as that," Gannon says. "So we took a look at the items and we've held them all at the distribution center -- we're not sending them to our restaurants any more and pretty much have ended the program."

According to the Cardcaptors website, Clow Cards contain the magical power of entities such as water, fire, and wind, and were sealed in the "mystical Clow Book" by a powerful sorcerer to "protect the world" when the entities became "unwieldy and dangerous." By its own admission, the story behind the cartoon series resembles Eastern mythology.

Gannon says the company has learned a lesson. "We will definitely take a more serious look as we develop things in the future to make sure that they can't be misconstrued as something having to do with witchcraft," she says.

As of Friday morning, the Cardcaptors promotion was still featured on Taco Bell's website. The cards were being included in "Kids Meals" at Taco Bell nationwide.

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