A very important post about….. Paris Hilton’s food porn

When we last left the topic of food porn, the staff here at danieldrezner.com was gently mocking the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CPSI) for awarding this label to the Hardee’s/Crl’s Jr. Monster Thickburger, pointing out that:

[T]heir decision to label all Thickburgers as ‘food porn’ guaranteed that they would earn sound bites, but the effect might be the opposite of what they intended. I gotta think that if a consumer sees something with that label, it will pique rather than retard their interest.

From the comments to that post, it was clear that many readers were eager to eat the burger out of sheer bloody-mindedness because of the CPSI’s excessive preachiness on the topic. One wondered, however — riling a group like CPSI works only once in generating the kind of necessary buzz. Which group could Hardee’s/Carl Jr. manage to rile up in order to secure the appropriate payoff? Which brings me, of course, to Paris Hilton:

What you see above you is a still from the new Carl. Jr.’s ad for its new Spicy BBQ Six Dollar Burger. Click here to see the ad running on the Carl Jr.’s site, and here to see an extended version of the ad — as well as…. commentary by Ms. Hilton herself. [How would you describe the ad?–ed. Er…. Paris Hilton doing a really bad job of washing a Bentley and an OK job of washing herself. And how would you describe her interview?–ed. A major turn-off. Hilton describes her outfit in the ad as a “bikini.” For God’s sake, the one thing she’s supposed to actually know is fashion and she can’t even use the proper term?] According to Lester Haines of The Register, the new ad caused the Carl Jr.’s website to crash from traffic overload (read all of Haines’ article by the way — wickedly funny). Newsweek’s Jonathan Darman reports that the usual suspects are not pleased with this ad:

The Paris pictures were news because the Parents Television Council (PTC), an influential broadcast-decency group, wants the ad banished to late-night television or off the airwaves altogether. The ad “meets the exact definition of pornography,? Tim Winter, the group?s executive director, tells NEWSWEEK. ?Families shouldn?t have to be subjected to that.?

CNN gets an even better quote from the PTC:

“This commercial is basically soft-core porn,” said Melissa Caldwell, research director for the PTC. “The way she moves, the way she puts her finger in her mouth — it’s very suggestive and very titillating.”

Wow, that’s hot. Note to self… check out the PTC web site more often. Meanwhile, Carl’s Jr. is just delighted by the PTC’s ire:

Carl’s Jr.’s message to the PTC: The group needs to “get a life,” said Andy Puzder, CEO of Carl’s Jr., a subsidiary of CKE Restaurants. “This isn’t Janet Jackson — there is no nipple in this. There is no nudity, there is no sex acts — it’s a beautiful model in a swimsuit washing a car.” Puzder says he has shown the ad to his three children, ages 12, 9 and 7, and they have shown no signs of being corrupted. “Maybe people are excited because it’s Paris Hilton, but there are far worse things on television that these groups should be worried about,” Puzder said.

So far Puzder has managed to aggravate the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Parents Television Council — both to brilliant PR effects. However, one wonders whether Puzder has run out of useful fools. Readers are strongly encouraged to suggest the next watchdog group that Puzder will provoke in order get more associations of his food products with porn.