Project 3

Drive In Carl’s Jr/Hardee’s

Synopsis

In 2012 Carl’s Jr/Hardee’s released the Southwest Patty melt. Their commercial for the burger begins with a young lady attending a drive through movie. Right off the bat you can tell this lady will be sexualized, because what usually happened at drive ins? She then takes a bite of the new spicy burger and immediately begins to get undressed. The commercial shows close ups of the burger but in the background it shows off the woman's cleavage and even up her dress. About halfway through the commercial a man's voice comes on and states what the “real” advertisement is. The lady continues to crawl around the car and get undressed as she distracts the young man in the car next to her despite his girlfriend sitting right there. Proving that she was there for pure “entertainment”.

The Real Meaning

It is quite obvious that the young lady in this commercial is being objectified and dehumanized. It seems that she is being used to draw more attention to the burger to promote sales, but in no way does that make this right. Jean Kilbourne would agree that this completely degrades women. In her article, “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” she says “Sex in advertising is pornographic because it dehumanizes and objectifies people, especially women...”(Kilbourne, Pg 489 Para 2). Within the first 20 seconds it already shows a close up of the young women's breast and cleavage.(see figure 1)Which should have nothing to do with the burger.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

The Hidden Tactics

It is quite obvious what the “hidden” tactic is, because it's not that hidden. In just about every scene the young lady is portrayed in sexual ways. To refer back to Kilbourne when she says “Sex in advertising is pornographic...”(Kilbourne, Pg 489 Parar 2). You can tell from the angle of the camera to what is being focused on the commercial seems to be very pornographic. From the way the camera is positioned it seems to always draw attention to her breast, butt, legs, and lips as she bites into the burger.(See figure 2, and 3) This brings us to Kilbourne's Killing Us Softly 4 . Here Kilbourne points out that the camera would purposely focus on the womens “breast” and “legs”. Showing women are just here for the pleasure of men. It is not always just what the woman is doing that is dehumanizing or objectifying. Sometimes it is what is going on in the background. For instance in this commercial the song in the background it says “you turn the heat on me”, “I am on the spot”, and “I like it hot”. As this song plays in the background with these lines the young lady is in focus and either taking her clothes off or touching herself in sexual ways.(see figure 4)

Figure 4

Conclusion

Although this is just a commercial throughout the whole thing you can see the sexualization, objectification and degrading of not just this young lady but all women. Just because there is only one lady shown in the commercial all these things suggest women are just here for the pleasure of men. When the song says “I like it hot” or “I am on the spot”. It indicates the young lady is getting hot. Which goes along with the new hot burger. This allows us to see just why these people included this young lady. Despite the fact of the way it makes her and every other young lady or woman look. Unfortunately this form of adverting has become the new normal. You can see this objectification in just about every commercial, and music video. Hopefully we as a society can come together and work to change the way we advertise things.

References

Kilborne, Jean "Three Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt" Rereading America. Eds. Colombo, Cullen, Lisle. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's P. 2013.
Kate Upton - Southwest Patty Melt at Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s - Youtube, Curtis Ross, 2014, Web, 14 Oct 2020
"Killing Us Softly 4 Advertising's Image of Women." YouTube, uploaded by Openedmieyez, 7 February 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnAY6S4_m5I.

Picture References

Screenshots, “Southwest Patty Melt at Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s Ad”, Youtube, Curtis Ross, 2014, Web, 14 Oct 2020

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