Carl’s Jr. Marketing Department
Dear Andrew F. Puzder and Brad R. Haley:
I am writing to you as a plea to stop using sex to sell
your products. Please stop sexualizing women in your advertising. I do not
find it wise for your marketing strategy to be structured around sex. Here is
why:
There are six facets
to effective advertising. These include: perception, emotional, cognitive,
association, persuasion, and behavior. Behavior, which is the facet that
elicits action from consumers to buy your product, is, obviously, the most
important. The persuasion facet is also an integral piece as it is the facet
that gets your consumers to buy into and believe that your product will
fulfill their needs. So my question to you is: What about your sexy
commercials is convincing your target audience to believe your product will
fulfill their needs and causing them to go out and buy it? Being a business
management minor from Brigham Young University and having taken a course on
marketing, I feel informed enough in the field of advertising to inform you
that I do not think your advertising is effective. I do not see it fulfilling
many of the six facets, but especially the facets of persuasion and behavior.
I, as a potential consumer of your products, do not see how your commercials
are educating your target audience of the benefits of your products and
causing them to act.
That being said, I want to inform you of the research that
has been done in regards to sex and advertising. Does sex really sell? A
recent meta-analysis that consisted of 44 studies and 8,489 participants
concluded that sex in advertising does not increase sales. In actuality, sex
in advertising is linked to less favored brands, has no effect on buying
intentions, and as the sex increases in intensity, one’s memory, attitudes and
actual intentions of buying decrease (Lull & Bushman, 2015). What you’re
really doing is helping Paris Hilton and the other women to sell their own brands. These men are not
going to remember your hamburger. They are going to remember Paris Hilton’s
body.
When I see your ads, I think, “Seriously, this company
thinks that women are a piece of meat that will help them sell their pieces of
meat?” And I know I am not the only one. You say your burgers are “more than
just a piece of meat,” but is this the message you are sending about women? Do
you believe that women are more than just a piece of meat? Do you know that
your adverts are contributing to sexual objectification? As women see other
women being sexually objectified, they are more likely to treat and see
themselves as objects (Vandenbosch & Eggermont, 2012), have eating
disorders (Harrison & Hefner, 2006), see themselves as less intelligent
(Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2009), and have problems in their relationships
(Manago, Ward, Lemm, Reed, & Seabrook, 2015). Do you really want your
company to be contributing to these negative outcomes for women and society as
a whole?
Personally, I think you would be much more effective and
your sales would improve if you re-structured your marketing to target a
greater audience. As a wife and soon to be mother, I can tell you that I will
not support a company that sexualizes women. I will not set the example to my
children that sexual objectification is acceptable. And as a wife, I do not
appreciate my husband being exposed to your advertising. In our marriage, like
many American marriages, I have an equal, if not greater, say in
decision-making. This includes decisions about where we will be eating out. Do
you think that I am going to approve of a suggestion to eat at Carl’s Jr. from
my husband? I am not. And I think I have given enough information for you to
have an idea as to why that is.
My final question to you is: Do you want the business of
one man or the business of an entire family? If your answer is the latter, I
strongly suggest you attempt to re-work your brand image and adjust your
advertising to have a more effective impact on more than just a young male
audience.
Sincerely,
Lyndsey Gunnerson
