Californians Have Change in Appetite for Governor; Former Frontrunner Schwarzenegger Falls behind in This Week's Taco Bell Poll.

News & Political Editors

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 2, 2003

Taco Bell Corp. announced today that previous Taco Poll leader Arnold Schwarzenegger fell to last place, claiming 0 percent of votes, after week two of the Company's in-store gubernatorial Taco Poll. Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, represented by the Chalupa, and Gov. Gray Davis, with the chicken soft taco, each seized nine percent of votes. The Grilled Stuft Burrito, counting for the other 133 candidates, took the lead at 82 percent.

The Taco Poll, now in its second week, allows Californians to visit one of more than 1,000 restaurants to "put their vote where their mouth is" for their favorite gubernatorial candidate. The Taco Poll encourages customers to "buy votes" simply by purchasing selected Taco Bell menu items. The original poll listed Bustamante as a Grilled Stuft Burrito with the bulk of the other candidates, but after overwhelming response from consumers to add Bustamante and strong support in the national poll results, the Company obliged and assigned him the Chalupa. A crunchy beef taco counts as a vote for Schwarzenegger, a soft chicken taco counts as a vote for not recalling Davis, a Chalupa counts as a vote for Bustamante, and a Grilled Stuft Burrito counts as a vote for the remaining 133 candidates.

"Californians are showing overwhelming support for the 133 candidates represented by our Grilled Stuft Burrito," said Greg Creed, chief marketing officer, Taco Bell Corp. "This seems to be a shift in voter sentiment -- but stay tuned -- it's still early in the Taco Poll."

The Taco Poll will run through the day before the official election. Customers can "Think Outside The Bun" and vote as many times as they like at participating restaurants throughout California.

Voters can monitor weekly results, which are tallied every Tuesday, online at www.tacobell.com. To ensure fairness to all candidates, product results will be calculated based on the incremental number of items sold.

Taco Bell Corp., a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM), is the nation's leading Mexican-style quick service restaurant chain serving tacos, burritos, signature Quesadillas, Border Bowls, nachos, and other specialty items. Taco Bell serves more than 35 million consumers each week in more than 6,000 restaurants in the U.S. In 2002, Taco Bell generated $5.2 billion in system-wide sales. "Think Outside the Bun" and visit www.tacobell.com.