Sexualizing food - it's an advertising fad more common in
the United States than here in Canada, but is nonetheless just as apparent.
When I was watching TV in California with my American friend a couple weeks
ago, an advertisement for an American fast food restaurant called Jack-in-the-Box
came on, featuring a man getting married to a bacon cheeseburger. My friend was
unfazed—as far the sexualization of food in ads goes, this was on the mild end
of the spectrum in America. For instance, Carl’s Jr, another American fast food
joint, has a reputation of creating far more provocative advertisements. Their
commercial intended for the Super Bowl, featuring model Kate Upton slowly
undressing while eating the new Southwest Patty Melt, is a more recent example.
The commercial was so provocative that it was banned from being aired. Studies
have shown that this means of advertising isn’t always effective. For example,
overtly sexual ads have been shown to not work on women the same way they work
on men, narrowing the target audience in commercials. So why do companies
continue to use the sexualization of food to advertise their products? Well,
there’s attention for one thing—when a commercial becomes controversial,
especially to the point of being banned, it provokes more attention than a
standard advertisement. Also, especially in the States, there are a lot more
fast food restaurants and therefore more competition. Each company has to find
their own gimmick to make them stand out against the fast food giants like
McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Burger King. Because of the successfulness these
commercials have given fast food companies like Carl’s Jr, it doesn’t look like
the fad of sexualizing food is going to fade away anytime soon.
Jack in the Box's "Marry Bacon" commercial:
Carl's Jr's banned Super Bowl commercial:
Hmm.. this is a very interesting trend... It seems crazy to think that a FAST FOOD commercial was overly provocative to the point of being banned. I suppose what you say is right - considering the success, this approach is unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon. What I think though is that it is sad that the best thing these advertisers can come up with is using sex to sell food. It may be successful, but ultimately I see it as an insult to their talents when they feel they must resort to this.
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