Fake Carl's Jr. Can Kiss My Real Ass

I've done it before. There is no doubt I will do it again. But I must, with no reservations, rant about the pedantic, trite, and all around poorly-conceived advertising campaigns that are Carl's Jr. I'm not even sure where to begin with this one.

Usually I'm prone to gripe about the consistently overly-sexualized nature of the ads--we got it, sex sells...but you're selling a freakin' burger here. Unless I'm bringing it into bed with me or have some weird fetish, I'm not sure a romp with my lunch is the thing I should be thinking about when deciding whether to attend the closest fine Carl's Jr. establishment.

This time, though, they've changed the way they convey their message completely. No sex. No dumbing down your target demographic of young males. And under normal circumstances I would commend them. Except that the newest campaign becomes another purely inane attempt of Mendelsohn/Zien to develop a creative advertisement. In Carl's Jr.'s latest escapade, they have "conceptualized" the idea to create a fake restaurant, with actors, and set people up (like a hidden camera show) by selling them what they think is a gourmet $16 burger when in actuality they are eating a delectable $3 Carl's Jr. beauty.

My complaints with this doozy run rampant. The spots (which haven't been released yet but can be viewed in their entirety at the above linked website) look anything but "hidden camera, reality" filming. The production quality looks fairly high quality (one "target" even notes how well lit the restaurant is). Worse to me, however, is the fact that even the supposedly unsuspecting targets seem to be actors too. Anyone that has ate Carl's Jr. would recognize their burgers by the repulsive lathering of special sauce--obviously needed to cover up the poor taste of the beef. One target even goes as far as to make a direct comparison to the fake burger and Carl's Jr., noting how much better the "fake" burger is than Carl's Jr. You've got to be shitting me. SHITTING ME. I would argue that the overwhelming majority of people who would make a comparison to a gourmet burger and fast food burger would hardly name Carl's Jr. off the top of their head. McDonald's, or even Burger King, would inherently come to mind first as the brand leaders. The entire thing just seems like a lame attempt to boost perception of product quality by lying and saying the unknowing targets are having real reactions. (It should be noted this same topic came up in May 26, 2008 issue of AdWeek and they explain that some people were even "asked" to post-dub reactions as admitted by co-creative director Mick DiMaria). Shame on you Carl's Jr. Shame on you for not only decieving viewers by tricking them into thinking you have quality products. But shame on you for using an advertising agency that can't even generate creative output. This tired concept has been done time and time again--recently within the fast food industry itself. Burger King JUST did this with the "We Don't Sell the Whopper" hidden camera spots (see below) and now Pizza Hut with the exact same idea of a fake restaurant selling Pizza Hut pasta.

So ultimately, as this castigation is beginning to exhaust me, I will finish by reiterating how much I hate Carl's Jr., and even more so their advertising. And come on. Wouldn't we all be pissed if we got tricked into paying $16 for nothing more than the Jr.