Stop Sexualizing Women

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