BOYCOTT HARDEES AND ALL CARL'S JR
mwa...@cruzio.com
Carl's Jr. is currently running an ad featuring Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.
Watch it yourself online: http://www.carlsjr.com/home/
Hef: "People always ask, 'Hey Hef do you have favorites?' I say no it's not
about that."
An attractive woman wearing a Playboy necklace interjects: "He can have
anything he wants. I don't know how he does it."
Hef replies: "I love 'em all."
A second attractive woman wearing a Playboy T-Shirt says in an Eastern
European accent: "I feel for Hef it is so hard to choose."
A third attractive woman joins in: "I don't know how he does it!"
Hef replies: "It just depends on what I'm in the mood for."
Company tag line: "Because some guys just don't like the same thing night
after night."
Thanks for passing this information on to your own email list!
Please join the hundreds of others who are boycotting Carl's Jr. until they
not only remove the ad, but acknowledge that picking a burger is NOT the
same as choosing a sexual partner and that this is NOT an appropriate
message for their target audience of young males, as Carl's Jr. VP Caroline
Leakan claims (full text of her letter below).
COPY AND PASTE THESE EMAIL ADDRESSES: Christie Cooney<cco...@ckr.com>,
Melissa Salzer<msa...@mzad.com>, Ron Reiter<rre...@mzad.com>, Bill
Farley<bi...@playboy.com>
*********************** SAMPLE LETTER ***********************
Dear Carl's Jr. CEO, VP Caroline Leakan, Christie Cooney, Mendelsohn|Zien
Advertising and Bill Farley of Playboy:
I am fed up with the fact that all of your ads finds "humor" in equating
women with meat; I am reminded of your chicken breast ad and the woman
"riding" a bronco machine. This latest one with Hugh Hefner is the last
straw. It is neither trivial nor humorous to use real human females as
metaphors for slabs of meat from Carl's Jr. It is not trivial to encourage
men and boys first to accumulate and then to tire of real female human
sexual partners, as one would a "Guacamole Bacon Six Dollar Burger(TM)"
night after night.
Pornography encourages men and boys to view and treat women as objects that
exist solely for male sexual pleasure rather than as respectable partners
where equality and emotional intimacy is encouraged. You do a disservice to
every male and female who views your propaganda denouncing sexual intimacy
and connection. Our world may be run by pimps and pornographers like
Hefner, and we may live in a consumer society, in which everything and
everyone becomes a commodity. But do you really want to advocate the
consumption of people who are tossed into the garbage when you are done? Is
this the world you want for your partners, sons and daughters? I doubt it.
You are careful not to produce a commercial degrading race or religion, yet
you brazenly tell the world that it's not only OK, but profitable, to
degrade woman. Your company might consider giving money to organizations
like Children of the Night, SAGE and Prostitution Research that work to
help women and girls who are hurt by the growing sex industry. Pimps like
Hefner directly profit from the pain and suffering of women all over the
globe.
Your company is exaccerbating the problem by actively funding Hefner's
abusive behavior.
Consider Jack in the Box commercials; they aren't currently using hateful
tactics toward women. Maybe it is time to change advertising agencies!
Until you acknowledge your mistake in encouraging your "target male
audience" to view women as interchangeable with hamburgers and pull this
campaign, I am joining others in an international boycott of all your
companies. I would appreciate your response.
Sincerely, YOUR NAME
******************PLEASE DO NOT PATRONIZE ANY OF THEIR
OUTLETS!*********************
Carl's Jr. is a wholly owned subsidiary of CKE Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:
CKR) of Carpinteria, California. CKE Restaurants, through its subsidiaries,
franchisees and licensees, operates over 3,200 restaurants in 44 states and
in 14 countries, including 1,000 Carl's Jr. restaurants, 2,154 Hardee's and
100 La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grills.
CALL: Carl's Jr. 1-805-745-7740, The advertising company that created the
ad: Mendelsohn|Zien 1-310-444-1990, Fax 310-444-9888, and/or Bill Farley of
Playboy 323-276-4315.
Full Text of VP's Response:
"Thank you for taking the time to comment on our advertising at Carl's Jr.
First of all, I'd like to make it clear that the ads to which you refer are
not Hardee's ads and they have never run in any Hardee's market.
While we appreciate your criticism, we believe our advertising at Carl's
Jr. is appropriate for our target audience... young men primarily between
18 and 34 years old. Carl's Jr.'s advertising is not intended to appeal to
children, and we do not attempt to run it at times or during programs that
children would typically view.
While reasonable people can certainly disagree as to the impact of our ads,
I would note that neither the Carl's Jr. "Mechanical Bull" ad nor the Hugh
Hefner ads contain nudity, violence, gore, vulgarity or overt sexual
conduct. None of the ads show men and women in the same scenes, let alone
in sexually compromising situations. The women in these ads are all dressed
appropriately for their age group. If you happen to be in a Carl's Jr.
market (in the Western U.S.) -- and see them -- you will agree that they
are certainly far tamer than what can be viewed on current network or
primetime programming.
Finally, we'd like to make you aware (if you are not already aware) of the
many ways Hardee's demonstrates its commitment to your community:
* the development of a one million dollar children's wing at Duke
University Hospital, helping more than 35,000 children a year, * the
recent donation of one million burger patties to national and local
hunger-relief charities, * * through children's literacy and reading
programs, * through scholarships that reward both excellence in academics
and community spirit, * as a supporter of local boys and girls clubs, *
through Red Cross disaster relief services supporting families,
firefighters, law enforcement, and rescue workers, and * through the
financial support of dozens of community programs that assist families and
youth *
Once again, we appreciate your feedback. We stand by our advertising and
believe that it is appropriate for our target audience.
Sincerely, Caroline Leakan Vice President, Corporate Communications"
TO READ AN ARTICLE ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN FROM THE COMPANY
http://www.shareholder.com/cke/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=121518&reltype=gen
Playboy Founder Hugh Hefner Talks 'Variety' in Carl's Jr.(R) Six Dollar
Burger(R) Campaign-Because Some Guys Don't Want the Same Thing Day After
Day
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