Project 5

Carl Jr.'s All Natural Burger

Introduction

“The All Natural Burger '' is a fifty-three second commercial video made four years ago starring the model Charlotte McKinney, it takes place at what seems to be an in-town market. The video was labeled as “funny, cool, and hot”. It is a commercial that sexualizes a woman to persuade people to buy Carl Jr.’s “all natural burger”. This video explicitly conveys pornography in a profound manner. As said by Jean Kilbourne in her article, “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”, “sex in advertising is pornagraphic because it dehumanizes and objectifies people, especially woman” (4). This seems very objectifying to me as they are using pornography just so they can sell a burger.

Sexualizing Women

As you can see in (Figure 1) when the commercial first begins, it makes it seem as if she has nothing on when the water from a hose covers most of her body to make her appear as if she is naked. They attempt to convince the viewer to buy the all natural burger through the woman's appearance, therefore making her seem like nothing more than just an "object" as Kilbourne said in (Killing Us Softly).

Figure 1 ; Charlotte McKinney mysteriously walking behind water as she seems to be naked.

In her article, “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt,” Jean Kilbourne states that “advertisers use sex to get our attention,” (1) well they are definitely doing this as they show off this woman’s body in a sexual manner, but for what? Just so they can convince people to buy the burger as if it is just as pleasing as seeing a naked woman. They are basically just using this woman as an object.

Sometimes, people are gullible and will believe what advertisers tell them. Kilbourne explains that “They make exaggerated claims about a product’s ability to make us attractive, popular, and successful” (1). Even though we think we are smart enough not to be tricked by advertisers' believable but untrue words, we really aren’t. Jean Kilbourne thinks that we should open our eyes to the bigger picture and actually look upon what these commercials and ads are doing. They are clearly doing more than just persuading men to eat burgers, it is disrespecting women and their bodies as well. Kilbourne asserts that ads portray women’s bodies as objects and claims it as dehumanizing” (1). Women shouldn’t be used for their bodies, they deserve much more than that.

Figure 2 : shows Charlotte McKinney with honey dew in front of her, representing her breasts.

According to Kilbourne, “advertising fetishizes products” (3). As you look at (Figure 2) and (Figure 3) you can see that they are comparing the market for fruits and vegetables with her breasts and butt.

Product Comparisons

Even in (Figure 3) you can see a man’s fingers pinching the fruit as if he was pinching her butt. This makes the thought seem even more true that men could only see the woman as an object for sexual pleasure. As this shows, it also almost convinces you that she really is naked, especially since her shorts are so low.

Figure 3 : fingers are pinching the fruit that represents Charlotte McKinney's butt.

Using food like this is just for sport. Kilbourne even explains that “products never can fulfill our sexual desires or meet our emotional needs” (5). From this we can take that using women's bodies to sell products overall seems like the wrong thing to do.

Conclusion

Throughout this whole commercial video you can see how they have objectified and put this woman on display. They show off and objectify her body just to sell Carl Jr. 's burger. It also was made for sexual pleasure, as seeing a woman’s body is pleasing to the eye. It has a very strong point suggesting that a woman being all natural is the best thing in the world, even as great as Carl Jr.’s all natural burger. In order to help the potential effects of these types of commercials, we should take in mind that women are not objects and that their bodies deserve to be respected. People should become more aware of advertisers' intentions so that future generations will be saved from these disrupting effects.

References:

Kilbourne, Jean. "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt." Rereading America 10th ed., edited by Colombo, Cullen, and Lisle, Macmillen, 2016, pp. 575-599.

"Killing Us Softly 4 Advertising's Image of Women." YouTube, uploaded by Openedmieyez, 7 February 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnAY6S4_m5I.

McKinney, Charlotte. “Au Naturel - the All Natural Burger Carl's Jr.Commercial - Charlotte Mckinney.” YouTube, YouTube, 8 June 2017.

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