Sex, Videotape, and Fries

Wow, Burger King did it. I was sure Carl's Junior had this in the bag, but no. Burger King has actually succeeded in airing the most sexist fast food commercial of all time. I’m talking, of course, about the ad for BK Burger Shots.

Where do I even begin? Let’s start with the idea that women are so baby-obsessed that they think everything small is a baby. Which leads us to the even weirder idea that when women think they are in the presence of a baby, they make orgasm sounds and want to do whoever is holding said baby/small thing/BK burger shot. But what offends me most is the assumption that hamburgers are so alien to women that they don’t even know you’re supposed to eat them.

Of course, Burger King ads aren’t the only ones that portray women eating fast food as strange or even taboo, and they certainly aren’t the first to sexualize that taboo. Carl’s Junior (runner up) has been fetishizing women's relationships with burgers for years.

Seriously, if you ever forget why you’re a feminist (or are interested in becoming one), just do a YouTube search for Carl’s Junior commercial. Can we boycott them already? Oh, wait, Carl’s Junior isn't trying to court female customers anyway. They're betting that boy money alone is going to keep them in business, maybe because the very thought of a woman eating a hamburger is just so absurd to these people. As a woman who likes hamburgers (yes, even the fast food kind) it pisses me off to see them portrayed as a male food that women only eat as a sexy spectacle.

And really, men should be insulted too. None of the men I know would buy a hamburger just because there was a woman gyrating woman in front of it. So why are ad execs still relying on a premise that insults everyone involved? Is junk food just a sexist industry?

SIGH. PETA, I’m boycotting you too.

[Also posted at bitchmagazine.org]

Comments

[christa]

This has bothered me for ages. Food seems like one of the very few areas of life you'd be safe from seeing women objectified, but no! I just read a piece related to this about the new FritoLay advertising campaign geared toward women, and I love this quote from that article: "Gender stereotypes don’t come from us and aren’t validated by our actual experiences. Yet, we still talk as if they were true. If we don’t affirm the stereotype, where do they come from and why do we believe that they are true? Well, here’s part of the answer: We know what men and women are like because we are constantly told what women and men are like."

(http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/02/27/where-gender-stereotypes-come-from/)

[Rfred]

As a tangent, PETA really is annoying sometimes. They remind me of Julia Butterfly. Once you start actually listening to them you realize they are stupid. Like how they paid strippers to pose in one of those "I would rather go naked than wear fur" campaign. Strippers...
And I'm a vegetarian.

[Sissy Panty Buns]

Banning that ad was a ridiculous act of censorship. There is certainly nothing wrong with advocating vegetarianism, because it is healthier and helps ease world hunger. The acreage it takes to feed cattle could feed twenty times as many people. The cattlemen probably don't like it. Remember when they sued Oprah? As someone who has modeled ladies full brief panties (back view) in photos I would be hypocritical if I claimed there was something wrong with any gender models wearing ladies full brief panties for the cameras. Speaking of hypocrisy, some of the very people who wanted the ad banned obviously spend time during the game staring at the players' butts in tight uniform pants bent over in the huddle. I suspect the biggest objections to the ad were from real prudes and from people who were afraid their partners would want that kind of talented treatment with the tongue from them. There could also be those who were concerned there was a lesbian component to the ad. Sex sells and so do panties. Peta knows it and the film industry knows it. Most films need at least one gratuitous panty shot. So what is the big deal? Yes, Peta goes overboard sometimes, but they get people thinking and talking, don't they?

[Jason Troy Dashney]

Hey women; tell me you've never looked at a hot guy and had dirty thoughts. Taking those thoughts that EVERYBODY has and sharing them in a commercial, especially in a humorous way is honest, not sexist. Plus, PETA's goal is to get people to stop eating meat. If this helps, then it helps their cause. Would you be as angry if it was buff men instead of women? All the (angry) feminists I know are either ugly and pissed at former rejection, or had a bad experience with some asshole ex they caught sleeping a younger, hotter woman. It's women like you that make men like me fake being a misogynist just to make your face red because there's no winning with your angry, narrow minded brains.

[Jason Troy Dashney]

HAHAHAHA!!!! Before leaving this page I took a look at that Burger King ad at the top. Reading your comments proves to me how you all have the blinders on. I think you actively search for a reason to get mad at anything involving a hot women. When I saw that ad, my only thought was how women flock to small animals. Go anywhere with a kitten, or puppy and women flock to it and talk about how cute it is etc. A human baby never once crossed my mind when watching this. Ladies, seriously, not everything is sexist. Does it say women should be in the kitchen? Does it say women should be paid less for equal work? Does it portray the men as smart, handsome he-men in a land of inferior women? No? Then take a good look at your own insecurities, please. To men, this is just a funny commercial. Nothing more, nothing less. It's not all a big conspiracy.

[squid]

why not have an ad which shows some hot semi naked men rubbing themselves with strawberries and snogging cherries?

anyway the tagline is obviously wrong. sex with vegetables is the best.

[buy cialis]

Yes it was a great commercial, aiming to the ladies, I guess that besides the obese market they want the healthy market..lol