Advertisement is one of the forms of marketing for sellers to sell their products to the customers. Advertisement encourages, and persuades customers to buy their products. Nowadays, there are a lot of brands and companies who are using sexual aspects in advertisement to promote and sell their products. In many advertisements, women are sexually objectified, where women are used as sexual object to catch the attention of the audiences.
Carl’s Jr. is one of the known companies for sexiest advertisements, which they started nine years ago. In 2005, Paris Hilton starred in a Superbowl advertisement for Carl’s Jr, where she washes a car in bikini, and eats Carl’s Jr. burger. At that time, the commercial became very controversial because it was considered as one of the sexiest ad campaigns. A lot of people were complaining how Carl’s Jr objectified women to sell their burgers.
Recently, Carl’s Jr. released a new commercial called Texas BBQ thickburger. The swimsuit model Hannah Ferguson in a bikini washes the truck, rubbing soap on herself, and eats burger. Then Paris Hilton in bikini with Bentley appears and saying, “You missed a spot” before she bites a remnants of Hannah’s burger.
Through the sexual commercial, Carl’s Jr. is trying to attract customers’ attention, which is less individualized. The Carl’s Jr. commercial is pretty much indirect in a way that customers do not quickly respond by buying it, rather it is basically a general reminder or reinforce. (Schudson) People might be confused what they are trying to sell by watching the commercial. Are they trying to sell luxury car, or a burger? Whether it is controversial or not, by objectifying women as sexual object to sell their product, the commercial surely catches the attentions of the viewers and audience, which means sexiest advertisement is very effective marketing for the ad agencies.
Here is the recent commercial from Carl’s Jr. called I LOVE TEXAS – Texas BBQ Thickburger
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Sources:
Schudson, Michael. 1984. Advertising as capitalist realism. In Advertising, The Uneasy Persuasion: It’s Dubious Impact on American Society. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 209-233
Youtube: I LOVE TEXAS – Texas BBQ Thickburger
She’s hungry for more! Bikini-clad Paris Hilton returns for another wet and wild Carl’s Jr advert with swimsuit model Hannah Ferguson