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]
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