This is going to be an ugly little rant by the time I hit the ‘publish’ button at the bottom of this post, but here goes. What is up with the fast food commercials these days? I will admit to not watching much tv at all, but the ones I’ve seen lately from Dairy Queen and Hardee’s have been eye-popping in terms of sexual references and sensuality. I understand that a little “adult humor” every now and then is necessary to catch the attention of the consumers with the cash, but these supposed “family-friendly” restaurants are turning me off.
I first noticed this with the Hardee’s commercials about a year ago when they showed a young woman trying to stuff a large handful of straws into her mouth in a very sexual manner. I think my jaw hit the floor when I first saw that one. They must have recieved some complaints about that one because shortly after that, the same commercial with a young man in it started alternating with the woman’s commercial. Neither one was appropriate. It had nothing to do with selling food. They were selling sex. Food was an afterthought.
I am highly disappointed with Hardee’s. I grew up eating at Hardee’s at least once a week. In fact, the second fast food joint to be built in my small hometown of 3,100 people was a Hardee’s. The first one was Dairy Queen. We didn’t even get a McDonald’s or a Subway until I got to high school. Hardee’s was a family atmosphere kind of place, where we hung out after ball games and cruised the drive-through lane on Friday nights. Their commercials featured race car drivers eating a delicious roast beef sandwich and making cheesy endorsements. It was nice and clean. Same for DQ.
Hardee’s radio commercials are just as bad as their tv spots. I heard one recently where a young man is bragging about dripping some sauce on his girlfriend and then licking it off of her. Then he and his buddy make plans to take two girls to Hardee’s next time so thay can order the same sandwich and drip some more sauce on the girls. Give me a break! Surely more people than just me find that disgusting. I am guessing that is why we went from at least 4 Hardee’s restaurants in my current city to none. They have all been replaced by Culvers. I have yet to see a Culver’s commercial, so I hope they are decent.
Dairy Queen is starting to get on my nerves now. I love Dairy Queen. Best ice cream on the planet. Heck, now that they have free wifi and a play area for the kids it totally rocks. But their commercials are turning into 30-second sexual dramas that I don’t want my kids to see. Sure, they are cute and funny – for ADULTS. C’mon folks. We all know sex sells. Let’s try a different approach now.
To Dairy Queen’s credit, I do like the Kit Kat Blizzard commercial…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XGSvHH32zw
What parent wouldn’t like this one? It’s funny. It’s cute. It shows parents and children being silly and the blizzard is the focal point of the commercial. No sexual references or adult humor whatsoever. Brilliant. Now why can’t their other commercials be just as good?
Sadly, this post is coming on the verge of our last night without cable tv. Tomorrow morning, my husband has scheduled the cable company to invade our crawlspace and install more channels (and commercials) than we have ever known. Neither of us ever grew up with cable tv, so I really don’t see that we are “missing” anything. Frankly, I’m a bit concerned. I know I will enjoy some quality programming such as the Discovery Channel and Disney stuff, but the rest of it is rather scary.
I am already prepared to make a list for my kids of what they can and cannot watch, but the problem is that the inappropriate commercials are already slipping in. Saturday morning cartoons on our non-cable channels are already littered with Victoria Secret commercials. What happened to selling cereal and chocolate milk? Do our children need g-strings and lingerie? I don’t know about you, but my kids are plenty comfy in their Tinkerbell panties and Barbie nightgowns. My kids aren’t blind to this stuff either. Every time the Victoria Secret commercial comes on my kids roll their eyes and say “ew – naked people”. No, the women in the commercial aren’t completely naked, but my kids are modest enough to think that wearing just your underwear is “naked”. I’m not going to tell them otherwise. ;)
So…where are we going for lunch today?
8 comments
jaz_ere_xx
hiya you k :x:x:x:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d
Jennifer
I agree with you. There have been many occasions recently when I’ve stopped and said, “What EXACTLY are they trying to sell here?!”
Ridiculous.
missfashion usa1
LOL:d/:)>-
Kel1
Oh, well, I dunno about you, but every time I think “waffle cone” I think of sex.
=)) Yeah. Doesn’t everyone? ;)
gretchen
@Beth – I have not seen the Burger King commercials, but agree with you on letting them air anyway. ;)
@Two Knives – brilliant idea. How can we package that? Surely with digital signals now there can be some kind of “scramble” function built into the remote control.
@Kel – I think man and burger isn’t nearly as much of a stretch as equating ice cream and a waffle cone with sex. /:)
kel1
I heard the Hardee’s commercial on the radio that you are referring to, and I have to admit…my mouth dropped open in shock. :O
I listen to talk radio a lot and they’re fairly conservative programs, with harmless commercials…until this one. I was SO glad my kids weren’t in the room when it came on. I was very disgusted by it and I almost called the station to complain…but I’m guessing I didn’t have to. Because since then, I’ve heard NO commercials of that sort on the same station. If I wanna listen to tripe like that, I will listen to other stations, with music that is similar in its message. ;)
So far, I’ve not seen any objectionable McDonald’s commercials, or Culver’s. Let’s hope they continue with the trend of advertising FOOD and not sex.
And as for those “I am Man” Burger King commercials–well, I just roll my eyes and laugh. I thought it was hilarious. “I am Man–give me a burger.” :)) How did we ever end up equating the two? It amazes me. LOL
Two Knives
I’ve been waiting for someone to invent a mute button that also scrambles the picture. Or makes it really tiny. We mute all commercials here, but it would be even better if we couldn’t see them. Why hasn’t someone invented that yet?
Beth
I hate these types of commercials too. However, Burger King runs these ads now for “real men” and they get all sexist in what they say. (I am man hear me roar?)But after I began to think about it, I realized that I am going to let Burger King continue to run these ads that target piggish men. Because after all, if they continue to eat the crappy, high calorie, high fat burgers, they will die off. Early. So horray to Burger King for targeting piggish men…kill them all off and we’ll have a better world!!
((grin))