Sexist Advertising FAIL and Jenny Lewis to Boot.
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"More than just a piece of meat."
I seriously just gasped because I'm so offended. For real.
By the way, that burger looks disgusting.
Are you serious? That looks like a damn fine burger... Do you eat burgers??
Some people really don't like sweet and savory combinations.
My lover, who in most regards is just as much of a junk-food junkie, as I am cannot stand my Luther burgers because the sweet donut combined with all the delishus cheese and bacon is straight up icky to her palette. But same meat/cheddar on a regular bun and she's cool with it.
Actually, I consider myself to be a burger aficionado, but I am a traditionalist when it comes to appropriate burger flavors. In addition, I would give up burgers before I ate one served at Carls Jr.
I prefer P.Terry's in Austin, TX. (Whoop, WHOOP)
Lol fair enough! I'm hungry.
Is burger another euphemism for woman? Sometimes I get confused (lady brain, other jokes here) since my gender is so often misconstrued to be edible and all...
Richard Pryor along with other comedians used to use "burger" as a euphemism for the vagina.
I thought they were referring the entire burger as more than just a piece of meat.
I mean the ad seriously sucks, but I didn't get offended by their slogan.
The slogan seems to have a double meaning. Also, they are suggesting that the burger is more than a piece of meat, but not the woman. It's offensive.
I was going to say. Hardee's/Carl's Jr always comes out with this crap, so I was used to it. But to see the blatant hypocrisy at the end hurt.
I thought they were saying both the burger and the woman were more thn just a piece of meat...
I'm certain that the slogan was not directed at the woman, because the entire commercial treated her like a piece of meat.
Bad commercial.
Really really good hamburger.
More like "why, Rilo Kiley, why?," it's not just a Jenny song.
For real! Jenny and Blake were the last ones in the industry I thought I'd ever see selling out to rubbish like this.
*sigh*
Carl's Restaurant. Carl gives / leaves restaurant to his son Carl Jr. So, Carl Jr.'s!
These people are stupid, so it is no wonder they got a stupid ad agency.
The commercial certainly does objectify her and normalize skinny and tan as the "ideal" bikini body, but I do like one aspect of it. I like that they show a woman eating. There are so many things that women aren't supposed to do, and eating big meals is one of them. I like that they portrayed this woman as beautiful, even while she was stuffing her face with a huge burger. Other than that, I could certainly do without this ad.
Yes, it does show her actually eating, but if you listen to the dialogue you can pick up on the latent guilt involved in this act.
Except that they have her explain that this is her "naughty" food that she really isn't supposed to eat lest it add pounds to her dainty frame, but she just can't help herself indulge in the forbidden and unwomanly habit of eating.
Yeah, and except for the fact that they've turned the required daily habit of eating into this weird hyper-sexualized show.
Exactly. She's a dirty, naughty, hungry slut who can't help being a 'little bad'.
It's only ok for her "to stuff her face" because she's skinny.
Wow sex used to sell something to men. I've never seen that before.
That's not sex. It's a performative sexual display. I can tell 'cause sex is fun.
I hate how it says "Audrina Patridge: Top Rated Bikini Body," basically equating her with her body. Of course, that is precisely what they are doing in the advertisement.
Why do women allow themselves to objectified this way? That's the worst part!
It's a thing called money and if not money, exposure to get more media attention. Plus it's normal for women to accept the fact of being objectified.
Overall the commercial is just a waste of air time. Besides the fact that I want a burger now just because it looked good, I just find the commercial ridiculous.
One where they use the slogan, "more than just a piece of meat." So are you saying the woman is only a piece of meat? And it's the, "I gotta be bad sometimes." So it's bad for women to eat now. Well I guess I'm bad on a day to day basis then.
Well, eating THAT food is definitely bad, and ESPECIALLY on a DAILY basis...
I know. How dare a woman chooses to eat a juicy burger over a rice cake.
Uh. How dare ANYONE eat that crap on a daily basis...teriyaki burgers and rice cakes.
MORE THAN JUST A PIECE OF MEAT.
let that sit for a while.
fuck you carls jr.
Well. I know now where I'm not eating.
I wrote a quick blog entry about this same commercial last night. If you want to take a look to see what I thought about it, please feel free. Also note that I am a male feminist so my perspective may not be as thorough as Malori Maloney. Please be kind to me as I just started this blog and am still trying to establish a voice. Thanks!
http://amoralfixation.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/more-than-just-a-piece-of-meat/
All right, so we can all agree that women eating food -and a varied and balanced diet at that - is good. The irony is that someone who indulged in that kind of meal on a daily basis WOULD NOT have a body like that unless she exercises four + hours a day, was bulemic, etc. Could we read into Carl Jr. implicitly supporting eating disorders... NAH, that's a little to deep for this kind of advertising. Just a hilariously unfunny juxtaposition of a superbly toned and skinny model with a product that usually makes people superbly unhealthy. It's a wonder more men (target audience here) don't get offended at the "cave man see meat!" paradigm marketed to them on a daily basis. sigh...
Alright, it's unlikely she would look like that, but not literally impossible. Not enough information to tell.
I dunno, I used to eat crap food (and lots of it), was only moderately active, and I was still always borderline underweight. Now that I eat better (but still lots of it) I am officially underweight... :/
I forgot to add that my point was that I don't think it's a good idea to be promoting the idea that just because someone has a nice body, they are automatically obsessed with looking good or have an eating disorder, etc... Especially since this woman doesn't look like she's starving. She's maybe a little too skinny, but she's sure no runway model. And look, there I go judging her appearance... See the dangers here?!
Ok not everyone fits into one bag of stereotype. However, in this specific commercial, this specific woman states, "To look this hot in a bikini, I have to give up like...everything."
Just want to point out that she has fake boobs. She would probably look thinner without them, though I agree that she is not emaciated. Also want to point out that it goes both ways. Some skinny women can eat total crap and stay skinny but there are also women with eating disorders who don't look runway model skinny. As I am sure you know, there are women with eating disorders who are overweight or a normal weight.
Why would straight men be offended by this commercial?
Conventionally attractive woman eating nice juicy hamburger - A sexy woman with an appetite for the carnal pleasures of the flesh - that's what heterosexual women desire and fantasize about, why would we be offended by a woman acting that out in a commercial?
Of course, Carl's Jr's advertising agency already knew that - the figured that out a LONG time ago.
Wow, I'm offended as a feminist and a vegan!
Thanks Carl's Jr!
I went to their youtube profile and they link to a site called "HotChicksEatingBurgers.com"
I think someone has a fetish...
Nice. So that site solicits women to submit videos of themselves that "make eating a burger look hot." Like all other female appetites, clearly female hunger exists to titillate men and women's eating should be performative. Carl's Jr is a suck shack.
This is not a feminist, analytical response to this ad, but it's an honest one: this commercial makes me feel terrible about myself. Mostly I can put the media-inspired body image issues aside, but for some reason, this ad just hits every low-self-esteem button there is for me.
Good thing I can change the channel, or even better, not watch tv at all. And certainly, it's no problem to never eat at Carl's Jr.!
We have to consider the source here:
Carl Karcher, deceased as of 2008-1-11, was a known supporter of anti-abortion and anti-gay rights causes. He donated a million dollars to California's Briggs Initiative, making him it's biggest financial supporter.
Carl's Jr. has a history of crappy advertising campaigns, so this latest one doesn't surprise me much.
You know I might be biased but... "the Moneymaker" was a Rilo Kiley song, not just a Jenny Lewis song. "Blondie is a group", remember?
Also, the odds that the record label owns more of the song than the band does currently are certainly not impossible. The Cramps after-all had to buy back most of their catalog and I don't think they ever got to buy back all of their songs in the end.
That said, the ad is a bummer, but are you really surprised by the people who brought you the EXTRA BIG ASS FRIES?
One does not have to be surprised to be appalled.
That logo on the cup and bag is a Hardees logo. We have Hardees here. The same pineapple burgers (they called it the Hawaiian burger). Are Hardees and Carls Jr. the same company?
They are "sibling" chains owned by the same company. Carls Jr. is on the west coast and Hardees in the east and midwest. Hardees was originally a separate restaurant chain, but was bought up by the company that owns Carls Jr. and rebranded sometime in the late 90s. They have basically the same menu.
The same company also owns The Green Burrito in southern Cali.
women as meat, meat as women (in addition to stupid, vapid women who will do anything for a buck). It's really offensive to those of us that give a fuck about feminism and animals.
Their slogan might as well be "Just another piece of meat" with the way they objectify women in every single freakin ad. And ppl, why are the majority of these comments about how the burger tastes and how her body looks? That's not the point! Lets just vow to never eat there again and see if that impacts their ads.
It won't. We are not their target market. It is OK with them if we are insulted or made to feel bad about ourselves, as stickinthemud felt. They deny that these ads are sleazy and plan on continuing to use them becuase they are cheap and effective for reaching their target audience of young males. So says Andrew Puzder CKE Restaurants, parent company for the Carl's/Hardee's Duchebag Duo: http://fastfood.freedomblogging.com/2009/04/10/carls-jr-ceo-responds-to-reader-brand-bashing/18249/
The song lyrics are about selling oneself, so despite RK agreeing to be associated with tacky Carl's Jr, it seems apropos.
They show her eating, but she talks about how she gives up everything else to eat that burger. It's just a really lame ad, like most Carl's Jr. ads. How many times do they have to make a sexist, offensive ad before they realize that women eat hamburgers too?
So I thought about everyone's discussion, and decided to send this letter to Carl's Jr (via online contact feature on their website):
Dear Carl's Jr.,
I am a 22 year old male. I just saw your ad starring Audrina Patridge. While I would not be surprised if this ad was effective at selling burgers to (young) men, I think that you should find another way to sell your product. Although sex sells, that does not make it a morally sound decision. Ads like these (taken in context with the glut of other similar ads and media) normalize tan, skinny women as the beauty ideal which contributes to susceptibility to poor body-image and low self-esteem for the women who see the ad. Furthermore, it hypersexualizes women - ads like these cause our society to see women as sexual creatures only, at the expense of their humanity.
Obviously, I don't hold your ads solely responsible, but because these messages are so ubiquitous, every ad like this is part of the problem. I hope you will consider using another advertising strategy (such as the merit of your food alone or perhaps an ad that is in some way clever or humorous, neither of which describe the Audrina Patridge ad).
Thanks for your time!
I wish I had mentioned that I would not buy their products or invest in their company as long as they continue to rely on such ads, but....I forgot until after I sent it.