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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

My hamburger has become too sexy!!!

I know when you read the title of this post you was thinking what the hell is she talking about now...right?????? Well Im talking about the fact that advertisers have been using sex to sell products for many years now..but it truly seems that some of them have taken things a bit too far. Now our fast food chains are trying to get into this whole sex sells theme and personally I find it ridiculous...and considering Im a mom and I can control what my 11 year old watches, however, I cannot control what commercial content is exposed to him. We've got Burger King who just got sexy by "blowing your mind"The top right-hand corner of the ad proclaims: "It just tastes better." and the fine-print on this choice Burger King ad reads as follows:
"Fill your desire for something long, juicy and flame-grilled with the NEW BK SUPER SEVEN INCHER. Yearn for more after you taste the mind-blowing burger that comes with a single beef patty, topped with American cheese, crispy onions and the A1 Thick and Hearty Steak Sauce."



I mean hell why stop there A1 steak sauce should make an ad advertising their 8-inch tall bottle as a phallic tower of manhood..I mean explosion of flavors...thick and hearty..it's all right there for them!!!

Oh and lets not forget the Kid's Meals ads that were out a couple months ago it was an ad targeted at children a Kid's meal for Sponge Bob Square Pants. It had the song Baby Got Back rewritten and depicted women shaking their supposedly box-like rear ends. This ad was clearly geared to children because it advertised their Sponge Bob kids meal. Women shaking their butts to pop music to advertise a meal that appeals to preschoolers and early elementary age children? What were they thinking...or were they thinking at all?

I like square butts and I cannot lie,
Squid and Sea Star can’t deny.
When a sponge walks in, four corners in his pants,
like he got phone book implants,
the crowd shouts, all the ladies stare.
Man those pants are square!
Swinging through the seaweed tangles
is a butt with sharp right angles.
Now, SpongeBob,
I wanna get with ya,
‘cause you’re making me richer.
Burger King wants me to seal the deal:
99 cents get a toy and a kids meal.


In the video that accompanies the lyric, women shake their booties while standing on a sponge:

image001

The Burger King measures the width of a woman’s behind:
image002

King measures the squareness of a woman’s behind:
image003

Yep thats appropriate for these preschool kiddos that will be eating those kid meals!!!

We also have the Hardees ad talking about its "creamy balls" and "happy holes" for its biscuit holes campaign. And then the Hardees/Carl's Jr ads have "Hot Chicks Eating Burgers," Seems an entire industry is trying to push every bound of sexual innuendo in order to sell something as simple as a hamburger. Do you remember a couple years ago when Paris Hilton did an ad for them in which she was seductively washing a Bentley and chowed down on the restaurant's massive beefy burger?

http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2005/startracks/050523/philton3.jpghttp://www.adrants.com/images/paris_burger_floor.jpg

The latest is an ad with a scantily clad lady eating a carl's jr burger she pretends to eat a ginormous pineapple burger while lying on a beach in a bikini, alternately resting the burger on her toned tummy. The tagline: "More than just a piece of meat." The ad sends exactly the opposite message of course.

http://www.gossipcenter.com/files//celeb-gossip/images/photos/audrina-patridge-burger-appeal.jpghttp://fresnobeach.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/audrina-patridge-burger-babe.jpg

http://www.luxuo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/padma_lakshmi_3.jpg

Some use to say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach now I guess its through his genitals? What kind of message are fast food corporations sending to their target group "hungry young men"? What kind of message are they sending to young women? The sexualization and debasing of women through the inference that they are a piece of meat is disgusting. And how did young horny men become their target group?? I mean not that I frequent these places often but having kids I do go there now and then and Im sorry but I have always seen lots of FAMILIES in there , along with old people, so how is it that they are targeting the young MEN group like they are the only ones eating in these establishments???The youthful male that they seem to be trying to target is absurd....so are they saying that it is okay to try and sexually stimulate my 19 and 21 year old so they will run out and buy their burgers? I have a very impressionable 11 year old that seems to be more and more desensitized by the day. Making light of titillating young males in order to get them to buy food totally disregards that women are degraded and children are sexualized in the process. It doesn't surprise me that these companies are willing to do whatever it takes to make their product portray a "glamorous" appearance, sort of a, eat this burger, and get this girl kind of approach. The sad thing is, that young girls everywhere are hit in the face yet once again by this image of the "perfect body." This is an image, that many of them see as impossible to attain, and so they feel inadequate. NOW, they have to see this perfect body chewing on a greasy hamburger....so I'm sure they are wondering why they are eating rice cakes and carrots and still don't look like that. These images should include a disclaimer about the countless expenses, trainers, custom diet plans and air-brushing that produce these bodies. It's cruel what we've done to our girls, and the every-day woman for that matter. I hope their young, male demographic is as big as they say, If this type of advertising is what it takes to get someone to eat their burgers , then the product must be lacking on it's own merits. Isn't it amazing that cigarettes can no longer be advertised on the air, but these type of advertisements are permitted !!! It's a male word today and what a shame it is, Men are not the only people to watch TV..i am a woman that wouldn't mind sometimes seeing a man half dressed, but we all know this does not happen . It is always the woman that is nearly naked..it is disgusting that almost every commercial you see on TV anymore is a woman somehow being nasty in some way ... even in the diet ads on TV it is always a woman in a bikini, and the men always dressed why is that? Stop looking at the female gender as a piece of meat... and shame on the women who think this is great.. stop and think of what you our doing, and contributing to society !! Why does this seem to be so hard to accomplish ?? The proliferation of sex to sell ANYTHING has long been out of control. Sometimes one can't even tell what product is being sold....except sex. Do we as a society really wonder why today's youth is so sexually active at such young ages and committing sex acts that simply astonish! The advertisers are out of control in their quest to be over the top. Nothing is left to the imagination anymore. It's too much!! Put your clothes back on people. Advertisers.....get your minds out of your genitals and maybe actually THINK of an idea that would actually sell ummmmm.....what was that?.......Oh yeah.....THE PRODUCT!!

17 comments:

Organic Meatbag said...

White Castle also just had a campaign where they were selling BBQ sandwiches with their "sweet & naughty" sauce...WTF? This is freakin' White Castle we're talking about here...
The sad fact is, the common belief is that most men, such as George Costanza on Seinfeld, would combine sex & eating if at all possible...

RileyScott said...

Unfortunately Dena, these types of ads do sell the product. I don't agree with their messages, or the use of tight female bodies to sell such things as Hamburgers. but the thing is, sex DOES sell more. It's not going to get better, no mattter how much we don't agree with it. Cause while the way to a Man's heart IS through his stomach, the way to a man's wallet seems to be through his genitals.

And why are they targeting men in there ads. It's for the same reason that Sears and Macys now target women. In the clothing stores all advertising is scued towards women, cause that's who spends money there the most. But in the fast food industry, their demographic is mainly men, aka the sex that the majority of which is either without the skills, or too lazy to make themselves a decent meal.


like I said, I don't agree with what they are doing to our culture, personally I've always found a catchy jingle much more useful then sexiness when deciding where to eat. I understand you worry about your child, but he's a bright kid, and I think he knows that those girls don't actually eat those burgers.

Samsmama said...

That BK ad is absurd! And when that commercial with Padma comes on, forget talking to my husband. He won't hear a word.

Simply_Pam said...

Scared of what they are gonna say about french fries now.. as uncool as it is sex sells. I'm gald my kids are grown and not subject to this at a young age.. but there are still the grandkids that are growning up way to fast thanks to stuff like this.

~Thought's By Dena~/ JDs Gift Shack said...

Organic Meatbag....thanks for stopping by and I agree with the "WTF" comment...I just dont get it...and as sad as it is that women get put out there like this... its also sad that they want men(you know the ones they are targeting) to be looked at being that way!!!

RileyScott ...yes I know that "they" say sex sells....but "they" have truly crossed the line with their ads!!!! I agree with you I always liked the old jingles or the catchy little lines like "where's the beef" those are the ads that stay with us...or remember a long time ago the Oscar Meyer jingle ...my bologna has a first name..... yeah thats the kind of advertising "they" need to go back to...because do they want me to believe that now that we have thrown half naked women on the ads that sales are going up??? I DOUBT THAT!!!!!! And as far as if my son knows that those kind of women dont really eat those burgers thats not even what pisses me off about all of this...its just the fact its ridiculous!!!

Izzy said...

You go girl, be proud on top of this soap box as I'm in full agreement!! The most ironic part of it all is that, man or woman, if you eat those burgers everyday you become obese and obesity is one of the leading causes of impotence and loss of libido. Seriously, what the hell are they thinking... And what the young, impressionable girls don't realize is that those models took those gigantic bites of burger, but either spit them out or vomited them up as soon as the director yelled "cut". It's a shame...

Meeko Fabulous said...

Dena, you've hit it spot on. All the over-sexing of everything is getting out of hand.

Crazee Juls said...

Oh My.... What is this crazee world coming to? I hadn't seen the spongebob square butt commercial...that's insanity.
Amen to everything you said!

Heather said...

Amen sister!! :)

Especially with your remarks on body image. Girls struggle all the time to fit a certain ideal of perfection - then see these modelesque bodies eating 1200 calorie burgers. Doesn't make much sense.

zelzee said...

There are days I think I am just too old for this world!!

Cozyflier said...

Keep on preaching Dena! Send your blog to the advertisers. I saw one the other day, don't even remember what it was for, and when it was over I turned to my 21 yr old and asked what they were trying to sell?!!

The TV shows are rated, but the commercials aren't, maybe the commercials need to be rated and need to have guidelines as to when they can be on the air, like after family time??

Alicia @ boylerpf said...

Way to put it out there, Girl! And a hearty amen too. It really is a shame that advertisers revert back to sex to sell fast food. They most likely got it from the car dealers..LOL! It certainly is not appealing to me nor is it to my husband. My son, 27, thinks they are absolutely gross..but we must be in the minority because new sex ads are cropping up every day!

Sally's World said...

OMG, i haven't seen any of these ads, we have much tighter controls in the UK I think, only after the watershed (9 pm) are they even allowed to show any sort of aggression, and billboards like this would never be allowed.

outrageous, but it wont stop until so called stars stop doing it, and they wont because to them its all about money and not about doing whats right!

also, i have something for you on my blog, come get it xxx

The Pink Birdhouse said...

Wow, what a post! It isn't just over there in the states, they have commercials like that over here in Europe too, and many are even worse. They won't allow violence on TV here, but sex is everywhere. Heck, you have to be afraid to leave kids alone in the room with the remote control for fear they will channel surf and come up with something I would not even want to watch let alone allow them to see. It makes me cringe. Has gotten a bit better over the years, but there is still a lot of nudity on tv here. The worst of it is when my 12 year daughter asks me what the meaning of the commercial is, and there I am stuck trying to find an explanation!

anyway, I have been missing everyone here on blogger too. Not sure what is happening with my time, but it seems to just slip past and soon another day has disappeared and I have not been on the computer at all. I see that it is the same with many of my friends, just too much to do in the summer and not enough hours! hope that all is well with you, dear friend. Been thinking of ya!! Debby

marjean said...

Wow! Where have I been? I haven't seen any of these commercials. Thanks for bringing them to my attention...it's bad enough what they do to sell alcohol...it's and adult market...but hamburgers!
Obviously, the ads were designed by men who do all their thinking with the wrong head.

Just SO said...

You hit it spot on. I hate these commercials and the one from Arctic Circle where the girl is making a shake and all these guys are behind her screaming and acting like she's a stripper. It's HORRID. We all need to get together and write in and let the advertisers AND the networks know that we don't want this type of crap on our tv.

Momza said...

Your post is spot on! It's a sad day when I have to change the channel when a COMMERCIAL comes on...it's really gross.
All of 'em seem to have taken the low road in advertising to the point where the products seem irrelevant...not the goal they were hoping for, I"m sure.

Great post! You really did your homework!