Someone Told You So

Remember when I posted this http://heavylevity.blogspot.com/2015/02/footlong-hot-dogs.html

and you all failed to comment which really just showed your apathetic apathy toward sexism and the objectification of women?

Well maybe this will jog your memory:

For Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., Sex Sells

• Suzanne Vranica

In an effort to appeal to consumers who are increasingly reaching for healthier food options, many fast-food chains are relying heavily on ads that tout freshness and quality. But not CKE Restaurants Inc., the owner of burger chains Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.

The company, which is controlled by Roark Capital, is sticking with sex to hawk its latest highly caloric burger.
New ads promoting “The Most American Thickburger” feature Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Samantha Hoopes donning an American flag bikini as she frolics in a hot tub on the back of a pickup truck.
Ads aren’t the only thing likely to raise eyebrows. The newest menu item is a Fourth of July-inspired burger that features a beef patty topped with hot dogs and a layer of potato chips. It clocks in at over 1,000 calories and 64 grams of fat.
Brad Haley, CKE’s chief marketing officer, talked to CMO Today about why the chain is sticking with sex to sell its latest burger, how menu items can generate buzz without advertising and why TV is a stronger ad vehicle than digital.

WSJ: Does sex sell better than that healthy messages?
Mr. Haley: We advertise in a way that appeals our target–young, hungry guys. Sometime they like attractive models. Sometimes our ads are funny or they have an edge to them.
We are not afraid to take a chance to build our relationship with our target audience, 18-to-34-year-old males. If it’s something they love but maybe their moms and dads don’t approve of, in a lot of ways that can help us form a stronger bond with our target.
Also we don’t always use women. It’s a mix. But it’s those ads that generate the most buzz so it seems as if we do that more often than we do.
WSJ: How do you avoid crossing the line with your ads, which typically feature scantily clad models?
Mr. Haley: Our sales are always the ultimate measure of whether or not we have gone too far. These kinds of ads have almost always been successful for us. In today’s world, an ad has to work on multiple levels. It has to drive primary demand for the product and it also has to work harder than ad did a generation go because it’s easier now to avoid advertising. People have to really want to watch. Our ads typically generate hundreds of millions dollars of free media [publicity].
WSJ: Is the publicity all positive?
Mr. Haley: The vast majority. Andy Puzder, our CEO, is famous for saying “if we are not getting complaints then you don’t know if the ad is being noticed.”
WSJ: How long have you been using scantily-clad models in your ads?
Mr. Haley: One of the first times we used a celebrity was Paris Hilton in 2005.  That was the ad that made our ad approach go from interesting to closer to iconic.
WSJ: How do you come up with these wacky burger combinations?
Mr. Haley: We were the first chain to develop meat-on-meat burger like the Pastrami Burger.
The idea is taking the great American sandwiches and putting them on a burger. When Jay Leno was on the ‘Tonight Show’ he said “you know things are getting bad when meat becomes a condiment.”
WSJ: How much do you spend annually on advertising?
Mr. Haley: We spend about $130 million.
WSJ: Which media do you still spend the bulk of your ad dollars on?
Mr. Haley: Television gets most of our spending.  It’s the medium that drives sales to the greatest degree. Every year digital and social becomes a bigger percentage of our spending but it still has a long way to go to match the number of eyeballs that TV can deliver and also the effectiveness of a TV ad.
Someone seeing a banner ad on a Web site somewhere may deliver eyeballs but it doesn’t deliver the impact of a television ad, yet.
Digital is the future but it has a long way to go.
WSJ: Given the obesity problems in this country, do you have any remorse in continually selling this kind of highly caloric food?
Mr. Haley: We feel like it’s important to have healthy choices on our menu and we pioneered many of them such as the charbroiled chicken and charbroiled codfish sandwiches. We also had the first low carb burger. But we know that our target customer likes big, indulgent burgers.
WSJ: Has there been a burger combination that has failed?
Mr. Haley:  There have been several such as a mashed potato burger. We are in test right now with the Flaming Hot Cheetos Burger. That has Cheetos in a cheddar cheese sauce on it. It remains to be seen how that one does.
It’s great when the burger combinations create a lot of media attention.  But we are not into doing burgers to create buzz. They have got to taste great and sell well.
WSJ: How much publicity has “The Most American Thickburger” gotten?
Mr. Haley:  In just one week, it has generated over 1 billion earned media impressions through PR alone, equating to millions of dollars in advertising value. The advertising hasn’t even begun.