Hardee's Hunger Campaign

Hardee's was founded in Greenville, NC in the 1960's The fast food restaurant chain offers a variety of foods from biscuits to hamburgers In 2003, Hardee's was purchased by CKE Restaurants who sought to rebrand the image CKE launched the "Thickburger" to compete with other popular fast food chains including McDonald's

Hardee's has now expanded to be a global restaurant, and is the 5th largest fast-food chain in the US Hardee's is not new to sexual advertising using supermodels, nor new to criticisms by groups such as the Parents Television Council

Background for campaign Prior sexual ad campaigns from the 2000's include "Name our Holes" (2009) "More Than a Piece of Meat" (2011)

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What do you think? Sexy, or sexist?

"The Naked Truth" - Tom Reichert, Michael S. Latour, John B. Ford "In terms of reactions by audience gender to sexual images of women in advertising, a fairly distinct pattern of findings is evident: men respond more positively than women, especially as nudity increases [LaTour, 1990; Reichert, LaTour, and Kim, 2007]."

Sexist Imagery Erving Goffman’s Gender Advertisements (1979) describes: The feminine touch: the way that women, more often than men, lightly touched or ritually caressed objects (or themselves) in advertisements. In contrast, men were generally depicted as purposefully grasping objects. The ritualization of subordination: the tendency for women to be presented in inferior positions and poses Female participants also exhibited more submissive gestures such as head or body canting and licensed withdrawal (‘tuning out’ psychologically from their surroundings).

Sexual Objectification of Women “In general, studies over the last 40 years have attempted to capture sexism at work in advertising, in which sexist portrayals have resulted in women (and men, to a lesser extent) being objectified or used as one-dimensional characters to sell projects.” The male gaze: The audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. There is an overwhelming media portrayal of incredibly thin women, especially problematic in the context of a fast food advertisement.

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History of the Campaign "Softcore Foodporn" "Although there have been plenty of negative comments on social media, ranging from disappointment to outrage at Upton’s performance, the impact on the brand’s impression score appears negligible."- Forbes "Sometimes there’s just no beating fortuitous timing. Big case in point: Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s finished shooting a campaign featuring model Kate Upton just two weeks before Upton and the world learned that she had been chosen as the cover model for the 2012 Sports Illustrated" Read mo

Criticism Negative: Criticized by Parents Television Council for its sexually suggestive nature. Boddie-Noell Enterprises refused to run the ads. The chairman wrote that he would not allow the ads to appear in any of their markets, and asked CKE Restaurants of California, Hardee's parent company, to drop the ads everywhere. Social media backlash Internet users have created petitions online to stop the sexist commercials "Hardee's Stop Airing their Sexist Commercial and Apologize Publicly to Women"

Despite the negative response... Hardee’s Impression score has remained steady at around 9 for the general population. Among the overall younger population, ages 18-34 have remained around -5, and reached a positive score of 2 in early March. Among young men ages 18-34, the Impression score has risen from -20 in late February before the commercial’s release to a positive score of 4 in early March.

Internet Response according to Mediapost.com: The 60-second version of the ad was #1 on Ad Age’s Viral Video Chart for March 8, and #10 the following week, and YouGov’s BrandIndex showed Hardee’s having registered a 24-point jump in buzz among 18- to-34-year- old males following the swimsuit cover announcement. Facebook: Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s have added more than 120,000 Facebook fans since the ad launched. After the 60-second video was posted, Hardee’s’ site's visitor count increased by 104% over the previous week, and Carl’s Jr.’s’ site saw an 83% jump. Twitter: More than 5,000 tweets, reaching more than 12.4 million people, have mentioned the sandwich, Kate@KateUpton, the ad and the QSR brands.

Twitter Feedback

Corporate Response In response to criticism from the Parents Television Council for using Paris Hilton cleaning a Bentley in a bikini while eating the burger, Andy Puzder, CEO, said: "The group needs to get a life. This isn't Janet Jackson -- there's no nipple in this. There is no nudity, there is no sex acts -- it's a beautiful model in a swimsuit washing a car." He also said he showed the ad to his three children, ages 7, 9, and 12, and they "showed no sign of being corrupted." He concluded by saying, "Maybe people are excited because it's Paris Hilton, but there are far worse things on television that these groups should be worried about."

Reaction By Hardee's: In response to the protests being posted on the Hardees Facebook page: Thank you for taking the time to share your comments with us. We regret that you were displeased with our advertising promotion. Your feedback is very important to us, and I have passed your comments on to our marketing department and senior management. CKE Restaurants, Inc., owner and franchisor of Hardee's restaurants, adopts a creative approach to our advertising. We do not aim to exclude or offend anyone with our efforts, but merely to appeal and amuse a very specific audience. We understand that not everyone may view our advertising the same way so we respect all views and welcome comments. Thank you again for taking the time to contact us. Sincerely, Loni Guest Relations CKE Restaurants

Reaction of Agency The creative chief of 72andSunny talks about how the ad is "giving young, hungry guys what they want." 72andSunny just produced another commercial featuring Upton a few weeks ago.

Our own analysis -Objectification of women -"Male gaze" -Inappropriate to non-targeted individuals -Sex sells- but do you need sex? -Feminine Touch -Ritualization of Subordination -Romanticising food -Despite the shock value, Hardee's still did well from this campaign

What do you think? Do you feel like they crossed the lines? Men's Vs. Women's Responses Based on Hardee's past and current sexual advertising standards, how would you change the ads? (Stay sexual? Reposition?) Do you think advertisements like these contribute to low self esteem and eating disorders in women and young girls?