Carl's Jr takes it too far? Blog Project #1

Sex sells, that's a fact. Well... maybe not a real fact but I think a psychology teacher I had talked about it being almost a fact. Some people have not seen a Carl's Jr commercial before, they aren't very frequent, but as a previous employed worker of theirs I have. The commercials feature a half dressed woman eating a burger as barbeque sauce drips off their face and on to their breasts. This sex appeal will hopefully bring all the hungry men into the restaurants to eat their western extra thick burgers.

Carl's Jr. usually doesn't use celebrities in their commercials, expect for of course the one with Paris Hilton. I mean who could forget that, right? however, they have often used many famous models in the advertisements. These commercials aren't very complex, minimal conversation, usually music in the background, while  half naked girls lick hot dogs or rub their faces on burgers, and somewhere towards the end they will throw in a Carl's Jr. star somewhere or say the name of whatever was being eaten (not like anyone paid attention to the food). These saucy (pun intended) commercials last anywhere from 30 seconds to one minute and usually show up past five o'clock on regular channels.

I think as far as persuasive techniques go, there is definitely famous person testimonial with appearances made by Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. While I think their could be potential for snob appeal, I feel like it goes past that.. maybe more along the lines of glamour appeal by using flawless skinny girls with perfect hair and makeup.

I think that this kind of provocative advertisement is not new at all, however for a fast food chain it is. Soft porn and sex appeal is nothing new to the media in general, but to take something as gross as fast food and give it sex appeal? Its almost impressive, but still offensive. "
Carl's Jr. is not exactly trying to market towards the ladies quite as much as they try to market on them" says Madelelne Davles, and I agree. These commercials are advertising towards men who want more, to hungry men. I think that these commercials are offensive because it is borderline porn, could you imagine watching these commercials with you kids, or your kids' friends? Talk about awkward!
I don't think it is very stereotypical, but as Dr. Dre would say "b!#^*es aint nothing but hoes and tricks" and in that sense, yes the commercial is very stereotypical.

The weaknesses are that these commercials do not appeal to everyone, they do not appeal to kids and usually do not appeal to women. It would be better is the ads interested every member of the potential viewing audience. The strength is that to whom it does speak to, it really draws them in. It is very memorable, because you will either remember it as offensive or sexy, the two most memorable attributes.

Based on the commercial I would not want to eat there, nothing about those commercials make me want to eat a burger. I personally would warn against it, not because of the commercial, but because I worked there and the burgers are nothing close to those in the commercials. There are many websites devoted to complaining about these sleazy commercials, but maybe the best is the Carl's Jr complaint board where no one complains about the food, only about the commercials: http://www.complaintboard.com/carls-jr-l13140.html


A couple things that I learned when looking into this topic was that there are numerous hate blogs with Carl's Jr as their topic. Also, while talking to a friend who is currently employed with the Albany Carl's Jr I learned that many costumers complain to the cashiers and crew members about these offensive commercials. So, why doesn't Carl's Jr change the direction of their commercials? Well, that must be because it is working. Something that really surprised me was the petition against Carl's Jr: http://www.change.org/p/carl-s-jr-clean-up-your-advertising-campaigns-to-stop-objectifying-women

Also, here is a funny anti Carl's Jr video from Shane Dawson:

Madelelne Davles' article, Put it in my mouth: history of Carl's Jr commercials: http://jezebel.com/5990397/put-it-in-my-mouth-a-history-of-disgusting-carls-jr-ads