~ Week 4 ~ Media Blog Project #1

Topic #1 Advertising/Public Relations

Selling Burgers? Or Sex?
         Carl's Jr. is famous for their commercials including delicious looking burgers being "eaten" by half naked women. Now, what does a model in a bikini have to do with burgers? Well that's the thing - absolutely nothing, but it sells. What exactly makes it sell? Men enjoying the women thinking if they order a burger, maybe some hot, blonde model will come eat one with them? Or women thinking "if I eat that burger, I'll look just like that". Either way, it's insane and demeaning to women (and to burgers). I'd like to say before you read this, these are my personal opinions, but also I mean no offense towards men being trapped into this as campaign, it's understandable.

DESCRIBE

• I am sure you have all seen a Carl's Jr. ad a time or two. Some seem more casual as if the half naked girl in a bikini is just casually walking down a street. Others include ridiculous, no casual scenarios with girls washing dirty trucks, three girls in a kitchen, one walking through a farm field dressed as a cowgirl. They all include some type of music and background as well. 
• In 2005, the first of the sexy ads ALMOST appeared on TV with Paris Hilton washing a car. It was banned before even airing on TV, but still "gained notoriety and YouTube infamy" (Davies). Most of the girls featured in the ads are already famous either a model, actress, or famous for other reasons. Some names one would know include Kate Upton, Kim Kardashian, Emily Ratajkowski, and Audrina Patridge. 
• The ads are all just around 1-3 minutes long and appear on TV quite often. They also have some billboards featuring images of these women eating the burgers. These ads became a series of different ones up until this year, when they decided to quit the "slutburger"'ad campaign.

ANALYZE

• The only persuasive technique I would say they use is famous person appeal. They use famous models and actresses because they are already so well known by most men and women. Most of them already naturally have a sex appeal, so it makes it easy for producers to just simply through in some water or a fan to blow their hair to make them look even better. Besides that, I don't think they use any type of technique than just persuading the minds of men with mostly naked, usually wet bodies of women. Which, can technically be called a technique, but I wouldn't say it's a good one from a women's perspective. 
• I would say it incorporates the association principle because they are trying to make the audience connect with what they are showing. For men, I'm sure they connect themselves to that women being shown amongst other things. For women, we connect to what they look like and wish we could have their bodies, while of course still enjoying big fat burgers just like them... right? 
• I think it depends on who you ask if the campaign is effectively using that platform. Overall, yes it did increase their sales, but it also made a lot of people upset, offended, and caused them to stop going there completely.

INTERPRET

• The ad is pretty unique in the way it's trying to sell burgers using women. Other companies such as Victoria's Secret use women in langerie, but for the purpose of selling langerie. So, Carl's Jr. ads may be new and different because of what the company is actually selling - food, nothing to do with women.
• The target audience would be men. Maybe mainly college-aged men, but I think all ages could be manipulated by these ads.
• The stereotype would be hot women being blonde, skinny, sexy, large-chested, and half naked. I think this is very offensive and demeaning towards women because the company has nothing to do with women. As stated above, half naked women may be appropriate for ads like langerie companies, still may give women an unrealistic dream, but at least it connects. Burgers and women do not connect whatsoever, which makes it unnecessary and offensive to women everywhere. I do not want to completely cut out men as they may be offended as well for different reasons, such as bothered that their young daughters have to watch these ads and be exposed to those sort of images.

EVALUATE 

• Strengths: Although I personally do not want to admit to any strengths of this ad campaign, there are a few. As rude and sexual they may be, they did increase sales an insane amount. The Super Bowl commercial including Charlotte McKinney "had 2.5 I billion earned media impressions before it even ran as a Super Bowl commercial. Now, it has more than 4 billion" (Taylor). The CEO of Carl's Jr. sees those numbers and blandly says that the numbers don't lie, it's popular. Another strength would be that they are smart for using already famous, well known as sexy, models and actresses to have a natural sex appeal already.
• Weaknesses: Bottom line, its offensive. A recent study showed that 52% of people who have seen these ads were offended by it (Taylor). Another one is that women are so bothered by it because the models portrayed have unrealistic bodies and that's what causes women to hate the ads even more. If you're going to make racy ads using women, at least use the realistic version of a women's figure (which we all know wouldn't happen, but we can wish, can't we?). The ads itself causes issues, but when confronted about them, the CEO has no sympathy, which makes him hated as well. He stated in a recent conversation with marketing companies that "If you don't complain, I go to the head of marketing and say, 'What's wrong with our ads?" (Taylor). He enjoys the backlash because it brings up sales.
• It's an overall memorable ad, but maybe not for the best reasons. The CEO of the company would of course love this, whether it's remembered for being offensive or sexy, at least it's distinctly remembered in someone's mind.
• It effectively connected to the target audience (younger adult men) because it attracts their hunger, amongst other things. 

ENGAGE

• Carl's Jr. uses social media such as Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter to post their videos, ads, and pictures of food and the women in the commercials. I think it works because although most people watch T.V. and are able to watch the ads there, some may use social media over television. For those people, social media is the perfect way to spread the ad campaign. As I read through Twitter comments on the ads, the majority were women complaining about how offensive and crude the commercials were. The other comments, made by men, that I will not mention, but are also quite demeaning towards women.
• Forbes wrote an article on the fact that Carl's Jr. ads were way more sexist than video games. The article is written by a blogger who typically writes on video games, so he is used to discussing how video games are sexist and the way they portray women in demeaning ways. He blandly says how inappropriate and unnecessary these ads are, but he does admit that "an ad like this will get enough people in a tizzy that it's guaranteed to be discussed widely and remembered " (Kain). Kain mentions how sex sells, so does controversy, which makes Carl's Jr. so talked about and remembered in the media because they sell both. The ads are an issue for him, but the sexism in the real world in workplaces concerns him way more in general. Although he calls the campaign stupid and tasteless, he thinks it is a personal opinion depending on one's taste. 
• I used to eat Carl's Jr. when I was younger with my family every once in a while. Although I was not old enough to understand these commercials, I know my parents did not want me to see them. It didn't necessarily stop us from eating there, but we only ever chose it because it was quick and convenient, not really because we craved it. Now that I am older, I would chose to not eat there based on their sexist ads.
• I would definitely warn against it and make sure people are aware of what they have been selling on their ad campaigns. It is up to people and their personal opinions, but I would not be afraid to share my thoughts with them on the company.

CONCLUSIONS

• I learned a lot from this project by looking deeper into the company and the ads. I was unaware that they started so long ago in 2005, I thought this ad campaign was only a few years old. I learned how many other models/actresses were featured in older campaigns. Overall, I was able to see many other people's opinion on the company which was interesting to see it from both sides of the argument.
• I was quite surprised at the article by Kate Taylor on the CEO having no care at all whether people were offended or not. I knew he must be something unique by being satisfied with what he was selling, but I never thought that he would enjoy the backlash given by so many women. I was also surprised to learn that they are quitting the "slut burger" campaign, which I am all for that one. They have decided to abandon and "say goodbye to dripping burgers and bountiful cleavage" (Filloon). The new campaign portrays the old Carl Hardee and his son, Carl Hardee Jr., as if the dad has been away and the son turned the company into a frat house. It will be quite interesting to see what happens with this new campaign, but let's hope it's much less offensive than the last.

Click Here to See Video Link to Popular Carl's Jr. ad including Kate Upton: 

Watch for yourself and create your own opinions on the campaign. 

Works Cited w/ Links

Filloon, Whitney. "Carl's Jr. Abandons Its 'Slutburger' Ads." Eater. March 29, 2017. Accessed 
           July 20, 2017. 
https://www.eater.com/2017/3/29/15105878/carls-jr-no-more-slutburger-ads.

Davies, Madeleine. "Put It in My Mouth: A History of Disgusting Carl's Jr. Ads." Jezebel. March            13, 2013. Accessed July 20, 2017. 
http://jezebel.com/5990397/put-it-in-my-mouth-a-history-of-disgusting-carls-jr-ads.

Kain, Erik. "Carl's Jr. Super Bowl Ad Is Way More Sexist Than Video Games." Forbes. January              30, 2015. Accessed July 20, 2017.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2015/01/30/carls-jr-super-bowl-ad-is-way-more-sexist-than-video-games/#69f2f73c6dfc.

Taylor, Kate. "The CEO of Carl's Jr. Doesn't Care If You're Offended by the Chain's Sexy Ads."               Entrepreneur. May 20, 2015. Accessed July 20, 2017. 
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246487.