Responses to Carl's Jr. Ads...

A homeschool mom sent a complaint to Carl's Jr. regarding their advertising campaign and received the same canned response I posted below. She went one step further, though, and replied to the e-mail. Here is what she sent, with Carl's Jr. text in italics and her comments in bold... =================================== Subject: Re: A Thank You Message From Carl's Jr. we'd like you to know that it is targeted toward a specific audience -- young men between 18 and 34 years so, you are targeting men my son's age? Men between the age of 18-34 don't need that kind of garbage fed to them either (both the high fat and low class variety) It is not intended to appeal to children; and, therefore, we do not attempt to run it at times or during programs that children would typically view. Really? Those commercials are running at a time my 13 and 11 year old sons are up (they stopped going to bed at 8:00 a long time ago) and more damaging is that my 12 year old daughter is getting a rather degrading image of women in general. If you are only pandering to the 18-34 year old male then do it on cable stations where your market is much better defined and I can choose to not subscribe to the service. The truth is your market is to the teen and pre-teen boy. Kids need messages that encourage sexual responsibility not the "have a different one every night" mentality that you are encouraging. Our daughters need to have a message that they are more than a piece of meat to be sampled. Your commercials are degrading to all people, they are not funny, cute, and they may sell a few hamburgers to those with the combined mental capacity of a carrot but families will spend their dollars elsewhere. In my city, Burger King is directly across the street from Carls. Guess where my money will be spent. ===================================== On a positive note, I sent an e-mail to In-n-Out Burger commending them for not resorting to the use of SEX to sell their burgers, and telling them that we would be frequenting their establisments more often. Here is their response: Subject: Regarding_your_inquiry_at_the_IN-N-OUT_Burger® _Web_Site. Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 16:15:03 -0800 Dear Rusty Lopez: Thank you for your wonderful e-mail! It is always nice to hear from our customers, and especially nice to receive comments such as those you sent. We appreciate your encouragement and confidence! Sincerely, Sarah VanKirk Customer Service Representative