In Taco Bell's advertisement, Routine Republic, they take aim at their competitor, McDonald's, and their breakfast selection. The way that Taco Bell does this is by showing how routine a McDonald's breakfast is. Taco Bell then shows that people don't have to go through that every morning, instead they can escape their boring routine and go to Taco Bell. Over the course of the ad, Taco Bell also hints at other problems with McDonalds, such as their gimmicks and how childish they are, even though they believe that they own the fast food world. All of this is depicted in Taco Bell's advertisement.

To start out the advertisement, Taco Bell shows a young attractive man waking up in a crummy apartment, with an out dated TV set with books stacked on top of it, and a window with a view that looks like it came right out of Orwell's 1984. Taco Bell purposefully relates McDonald's to 1984, because they are trying to show how McDonald's is not as great of a restaurant as they would lead customers to believe. This connects to 1984 because the leadership in 1984 would want people to think they were living in a utopian society, even if they weren't. Taco Bell made the man appear smart by placing multiple books on top of the TV, which usually implies that a person is well read and therefore intelligent. The reason Taco Bell made the man seem smart and attractive was so that they could show how even a well-educated and attractive individual could have the misfortune of having to go to McDonald's for breakfast. Also, the whole bleak city that the man is forced to call home is supposed to represent a McDonald's restaurant. It's giving the appearance that all McDonald's are old, and filled with people who have given up on life. The people that crowd the square in the advertisement, waiting for an unpleasing breakfast because they have nothing better to brighten their day, are an example of the type of people that Taco Bell wants the viewer to associate with McDonald's. 

Another way that the Taco Bell advertisement attacks McDonald's is by showing how gimmicky they are. This is shown in the way that the guards in the advertisement all have clown faces while at the same time trying to be intimidating to the people in line waiting for food. This is just like how McDonald's attempts to pass itself off as being a serious restaurant, even though their "mascot" is a clown and the only reason that they are popular is because of their happy meals, which are for children. This just makes them seem childish and makes people think they are a joke. Taco Bell wants people to think that McDonald's is a joke so that people believe that it is only suitable for children, and if a person were an adult then they would want to eat somewhere else like at Taco Bell. Taco Bell then shows through their advertisement that McDonald's knows this, and will do anything to keep people from taking their business elsewhere. Taco Bell shows this with the walls and field of explosives that surround people in the advertisement, preventing them from going somewhere else for breakfast. The difficulty of escaping the McDonald's is shown through the way that in order to get out of the city, people had to start a resistance and orchestrate an escape plan. This helps put the idea into the viewer's head that McDonald's is desperate to keep customers and will do anything to make sure they don't go somewhere else. 

The Taco Bell commercial also tries to promote how good Taco Bell's own breakfast food is. Having only young attractive people eating their food in the advertisement did this. This shows the difference between the breakfast sold at Taco Bell and McDonald's by making it seem as though the breakfast at McDonald's is for an older generation, and the breakfast at Taco Bell is for a younger generation. This was done because Taco Bell's slogan "The next generation of breakfast" is trying to convey the image that Taco Bell is where the new and hip generation of people go to get food. This was supported in the advertisement by having old and dirty people eating the McDonald's breakfast, while the people eating at Taco Bell seemed younger and happier. Also, because people were escaping McDonald's to go to Taco Bell, it is implying to viewers that Taco Bell is better than McDonald's. Another way that Taco Bell was making their products appear better was by showing that there is more than one option. For example, people were eating different breakfast items from Taco Bell, while everyone at the McDonald's was eating the same bland looking breakfast sandwich.  

The main goal of Taco Bell's Routine Republic ad was to show viewers that their product is superior to McDonald's. This was shown by giving the image that a McDonald's is rundown and only serves a boring breakfast sandwich, while Taco Bell can offer more options. Also, the people who go to Taco Bell are only young and hip, which was done because Taco Bell wants to be appealing to the younger generation. This is also shown by their slogan, "The next generation of breakfast", which they adopted to try and get a younger crowd of people to go to their restaurants. Another way that this was demonstrated in the advertisement was by having the only young people going to McDonald's lead an escape to get breakfast from Taco Bell. Lastly, Taco Bell attacked McDonald's by making them appear gimmicky and desperate for customers. This was shown in the ad by having the guards try to be intimidating, even though they were wearing clown faces. This shows how McDonald's is trying to be taken serious as a restaurant, but at the same time tries to seem childish to appeal to kids. Taco Bell used this to make it seem like McDonald's is a joke and only for children, and if someone wants to act like a successful adult then they should go to Taco Bell.

