Gidget

An American cultural icon passed on recently. No, not revered anchorman Walter Cronkite.

Gidget the Taco Bell Dog, whose image was used with a male voice declaring ”Yo Quiero Taco Bell,” had a stroke Tuesday night and was euthanized.

The huge-eared Chihuahua was the star in a national ad campaign that ran in the late 1990s. Americans loved her _ especially kids, including mine, who long owned a similarly colored female Chihuahua but whose gut was significantly larger than the shapely Gidget.

Lita, as in “Little,” was endeared by my family. I called her “La Rata” (the rat), sometimes with affection and sometimes with disaffection while raising my considerable foot. So when Gidget burst onto the ad scene, my kids were charter members of her fan club and wanted T-shirts sporting her image.

But why did so many of my bilingual Facebook friends make posts about her death with comments such as ”muy, muy triste” (very, very sad) and ”que pena” (what pain)?

After all, she was the huggable image for some disembodied guy speaking Spanish with a deep accent saying: “Yo Quiero Taco Bell.”

The bilingual pipsqueak was somewhat of a cultural  pioneer. A common Spanish phrase meaning “I want” or “I love” in other contexts was seeping into mainstream homes under the stealthy and clever mask of cuteness. And most probably thought she was a he.

Why so much personal attachment to the recently departed Gidget? It certainly wasn’t about the food at Taco Bell, which bares almost no resemblance to the taste of authentic Mexican food.

She was too cute to annoy, even for people who struggle to find a definition for an Enchirito. Don’t look in Mexico because like the famed chupacabra (the mythical goat sucker), it doesn’t exist. Taco Bell trademarked its hybrid creation of an enchilada and burrito.

So was Gidget a cultural pathfinder or a pint-sized meal ticket for Taco Bell? Probably both. But we shouldn’t overthink her legacy. She lived out a great life as a pampered Hollywood celebrity who thrived without Botox and collagen implants.

Aye Chihuahua. She earned her fame in pop culture.

Que en paz descanse. May she rest in peace.