Carl’s Jr. saying bye-bye to bikinis
The burger chain is putting away its racy advertising campaign.
For a dozen years, Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s have been best known for their racy — and often crass — commercials featuring scantily-clad women with the occasional hamburger.
Now the fast-food chains are trying to reverse course. Their new message, according to a new commercial: “Food, not boobs.”
Their newest ad, a threeminute spot scheduled to air Sunday on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim on Sunday, attempts to dial back the raunchiness. In it, the fictional Carl Hardee Sr. — played by “Nashville” actor Charles Esten — shows up to reclaim the company from his son, Carl Hardee Jr. (also fictional, played by the comedian Drew Tarver).
“Take that down,” the older Hardee says, motioning to a giant portrait of Charlotte McKinney holding hamburgers against her bare bosom. The picture is replaced by a closeup of a hamburger.
Then Carl Hardee Sr. turns to the camera.
“Hello, friend,” he says. “You know, when I started this company, it was about one thing: pioneering a new way of food.”
A 60-second version of the ad, created by the agency 72andSunny, will run during the NCAA championship game next week.
The idea, said Jason Norcross of 72andSunny, was to help the company compete against newcomers like Shake Shack and the Habit Burger Grill. While Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s ads certainly drummed up publicity for the brands, Norcross said they weren’t exactly driving business anymore.
CKE Restaurants, the California-based parent company of Carl’s and Hardee’s, was until earlier this month led by Andrew Puzder, President Donald Trump’s original nominee to lead the Labor Department.
“You and I certainly may like the ads we’ve been running,” Puzder, 66, told Stuart Varney on Fox Business. But “young, hungry guys aren’t as affected by the racy ads with the swimsuit models because you can get a lot of that on the internet now.”