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Maria Torres

February 10, 2015

English 100B

Jodi Simmons

Becoming Different, Remaining Same

By comparing the older version of a Carl’s Jr. commercial to one from today,

we can see that our culture has changed, but basic advertisement strategies have

not. From the very beginning, ads has sought to manipulate our desires and

thoughts so that we will buy, whatever it is that the advertisers are wishing us to

buy. The way they have done this is however has changed over the years. No matter

how Carl’s Jr. has advertised their food, they have always managed to have

customers. This can be by promoting a new product by showing how their burgers

are made, or by simply having a sexy model on top of a car making sexual gestures

and rarely showing the burger. The ads for Carl’s Jr in the 1980’s would have made

viewers want to have a lunch or dinner there with friends or even a date. However,

today’s advertisements for Carl’s Jr. show that today’s young people desire to be

sexy and provocative.

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Watching an ad from 1980’s, there is a huge shift in the older generation and

today’s generation. In the 1980’s, advertisements for Carl’s Jr. restaurants were full

of innocence. They targeted the

value of time and being around

family and friends. Along with this

they also showed a great value in

their product.

In a 1980’s Carl’s Jr.

commercial, there was a man talking to a star, which is Carl’s Jr. logo. In the

beginning of the commercial , the man is sitting eating a burger, when all out of

nowhere the Carl’s Jr. star pops up and says “I bet that’s the best burger you’ve had!

Come on, i’ll show you how it’s made!” After this, the man follows the star to the

kitchen where the star starts explaining why their burgers are so good. Throughout

the commercial, the star explains how burgers

were made and what was “the secret taste” behind the burger. At the end of the ad,

he tells the star in a loud voice “Oh Charbroiled! That’s the secret!” At this moment, a

woman in the booth next to him turns, and stares at him as if he was strange, then

they both turn away from each other embarrassed. He does not try to have any sort

of connection with her, but feels silly for talking with a cartoon star. We see how the

main focus of the commercial is a star and a man.

The way this ad was set up was in some way “innocent.” Viewers would want

to go eat at Carl’s Jr by watching this advertisement. The way they describe the

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burger makes it sound incredible. Also, the way they put the woman at the end

would made them want to go there to maybe meet girls or go on a date.

In 2005 , a commercial was released with Paris Hilton. (Shown to the left.) In

this commercial, she is seen in a provocative bathing suit while carrying a bucket of

water. She throws this

bucket of water on a Bentley

and begins to wash the car.

In the process of doing this

she also begins to wet herself

with the sponge and make

sexual gestures. In the middle of all this, she takes a bite of a burger and sits on the

hood of the car. Then, she continues to wash the car.

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Another commercial, was released in 2014

with Padma Lakshmi, who is a culinary expert and

author (Shown to the right). In this commercial she is

seen walking in the market and talking about how

she appreciates the Carl’s Jr. food and its flavor. After

this she sits in front of a building and takes out the

“Western Bacon“ cheeseburger from a Carl’s Jr. bag.

In this commercial her body language is very sexual.

She sits with her legs open and is wearing a low cut

dress, which shows a good amount of cleavage. As the commercial continues, she is

seen to pull the bottom of her dress higher, while eating the burger. During the

commercial, she continues to do very sexual movements, such as lick ketchup off her

leg and licking her hamburger.

In both commercials, the actresses are seen eating the product, which is

trying to be sold to the viewers, while also trying to be sexy. The viewers are

distracted by the sexual way in which the actresses are acting, as opposed to paying

attention to the product, which is being advertised. During the Paris Hilton

commercial, neither the logo of Carl’s Jr. nor the hamburger is seen. The viewers of

this commercial may have been more interested in watching her wash a car than

paying attention to what was being advertised. Although in the commercial with

Padma Lakshmi you can clearly see a logo and a burger, viewers may still become

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distracted by the sexual way she is eating rather than actually paying attention to

the advertised meal.

Comparing the older generation commercial to the one in 1980s and 2000s

we see a big difference. In 1980s, the target may have been to middle-aged people,

as well to those people who had a family and wanted to go out for a fun dinner. In

the modern commercials, we can clearly see that these commercials are not meant

for a family or middle-aged people. Modern commercials are mainly meant for

single men and teenagers. When teenage girls watch this, they may want to go to

Carl’s Jr. and try to eat a burger as sexy as the actresses were in the commercials.

They may desire to look or become like these models. On the other hand, teenage

boys and men watch these commercials because of the sexual gestures or the sexy

way they eat the burger, and decide they want to eat one too.

We can all agree that the generation is changing. These changes are

presented within these three commercials. In the older one, they use a man as the

main character. He is very formal and polite. In the newer commercials, they use

two sexy and well known women. By getting women to do the part and by acting

sexy, Carl’s Jr. believes they can get more viewers. The setting of the commercials

shows this as well. The two newer generation ones have some sort of city or car

setting, meanwhile the older one is actually in the restaurant itself.

Although they are thus quite different, in another way they still remain the

same. In all three Carl’s Jr commercials they are clearly trying to advertise their

product. They all are trying to cause the viewers to feel something, emotions such as

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hunger (pathos). These commercials use more pathos than any other appeal. They

use this because they want the viewers to feel hungry . The last two commercials

use ethos as well. They let the viewers know they may look like these models while

eating or because these models eat there , they should eat there as well. Although

the more modern commercials do not use logos, they do use it in the older

commercial . They use it by explaining how they make Carl’s Jr. burgers and what is

the secret to their hamburgers (logos). Although Carl’s Jr. has changed the way they

have advertised their product they still have managed to find a way to keep their

customers and viewers happy and satisfied with their product.