Using Flesh to Sell Flesh

Published on Tuesday, December 22, 2009, by James Norton / Edit Post

USA Today pokes around a bit on one of the least-appealing ad-related stories to surface in recent months: Restaurant chains are waging large-scale campaigns to convince people—OK, mostly young men—to eat fast food by playing off the completely commodified sex appeal of Kim Kardashian and the Burger King "Shower Babe." (In the latter case, viewers get to vote for what bikini she wears while she showers under the leer of a web-camera. Hey, that's really cool, and not at all evocative of pornography.)

The theory behind both campaigns: Young men can be convinced to eat Carl's Jr. salads (Kardashian) or Burger King burgers (Shower Babe) by the deployment of female flesh.

Anyone who's ever seen a commercial can't be particularly surprised by these tactics. Sex has sold stuff for a while now [Warning: Mildy sexy retro pin-up ads].

What's interesting about these campaigns is how direct they are. "HOT BABE!" they shout. "BRAND NAME! YEAH! BUY!" Relatively low numbers on the Shower Babe campaign (a mere 70,000 unique visitors since its launch on December 8) indicate that just a touch more wit or subtlety might pay dividends. Or maybe they indicate that only 70,000 guys are slow-witted enough to think the Burger King Shower Babe is their best source of free online stimulation.

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POST A COMMENT |10 Comments

COMMENT

  • So who else is tired of the over-exposed, no talent Kardashians?

  • @Barry- In college, I was working as a waitress at a Baker's Square restaurant in Northridge when who should sit in my section but Peter North. I go back to the salad station and excitedly tell the other servers... "Peter North is sitting in my section!!" To which they all ask, "Who is Peter North?" Yeah, slunk my way out of that one. :)

    That being said, the thing I *HATE* about these ads are...+READ

    @Barry- In college, I was working as a waitress at a Baker's Square restaurant in Northridge when who should sit in my section but Peter North. I go back to the salad station and excitedly tell the other servers... "Peter North is sitting in my section!!" To which they all ask, "Who is Peter North?" Yeah, slunk my way out of that one. :)

    That being said, the thing I *HATE* about these ads are the amplified mouth noises. I can hardly enjoy a meal seated near a noisy eater, much less do I need to hear the lettuce-crunching and mayo-slurping and finger-sucking in full Dolby surround-sound. Oh, and that Healthy Choice ad with Julia Louise Dreyfus eating the Orange Chicken and talking with her mouth full? I've never NOT wanted a product so much in my life.-COLLAPSE

  • @scott123, there was a local restaurant reviewer here that likened a new restaurant's salad dressing application technique to Peter North. Definitely not appetizing.

    PS, if you need to Google Peter North, don't do it at work.

  • Oh please! Compared to what real evil goes on in the world, this stuff is completely tame.

  • Sorry, I can admire Padma Lakshmi dribbling fluids on herself without feeling the tiniest urge to go to Carl's. Haven't seen either the Kim Kardashian or Shower Babe spots yet, but can't imagine feeling differently about those.

  • I guess there's no logical argument for eating at Burger King or Carls Jr. They can't make nutrition claims, they really can't tell you a good reason for coming to their restaurants except they're cheap. So primal appeal (sex or fear) is the way to go. It's worked for many products and politicians, but it's especially disconnected here.

    This is another level of the basement that food marketers...+READ

    I guess there's no logical argument for eating at Burger King or Carls Jr. They can't make nutrition claims, they really can't tell you a good reason for coming to their restaurants except they're cheap. So primal appeal (sex or fear) is the way to go. It's worked for many products and politicians, but it's especially disconnected here.

    This is another level of the basement that food marketers will go to in order to blind us to the fact that this stuff is killing us all, slowly.

    Where's Michael Pollan's (author of Omnivore's Delima) sexy video? There is none. He makes too much sense.-COLLAPSE

  • Hint: Sex certainly sells, but, next time, try not to skeeve out your young male target demographic by suggesting a correlation between salad dressing and bodily fluids.

  • The Shower Girl stuff is pretty retarded but I think the Kim Kardashian spot is designed to appeal to women as much as men; trying to get women to think they can eat fast food and be sexy.

    BTW there is also a Carl Jr's ad with Padma Lakshmi eating a burger and dribbling sauce everywhere.

  • What does IQ have to do with it? Intelligent people can't appreciate sex appeal?

  • Is that really going to appeal to anyone with an IQ over 50?????