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Owner of 330 Hardee's restaurants feelings about Paris Hilton car-washing/hamburger-eating commercial: "that's too hot," won't run it

Etopia Media Entertainment News Network #17

Rocky Mount, North Carolina
June 25, 2005

by Marc Strassman
Reporter
Etopia Media Entertainment News Network
Etopia Media News Networks

Boddie-Noell Enterprises Inc., the largest franchisee of the Hardee's restaurant chain, with more than 330 Hardee's restaurants in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky, won't be running the notoriously-spicy "Paris Hilton-goes-wild-with-a Bentley, suds, a hose, and a six-dollar-burger" television spot because Boddie-Noell President Bill Boddie has decided that the ad is "too explicit for television audiences and threatened to offend many Hardee's customers."

Apparently acting both on principle and in his own perceived best business interests, Mr. Boddie was quoted in the Roanoke Times as saying:

"'We've never done anything like this before, where we've said, "We're not running this ad." It may happen again in the future, but this one gathered so much talk and controversy behind it that a href="http://www.roanoke.com/business%5C26118.html"> we just made the stand not to run it.'"

Mr. Boddie was quoted in the Richmond Times-Dispatch saying that:

"'This is just one of those ads, with the initial response it got from people, once it aired on late-night shows and everybody saw it, we just came to the decision that in our area it's best not to run it.'"

The article in the Roanoke Times on the decision of the largest Hardee's chain in the country not to run the Paris Hilton ad included a favorable comment on that judgment by Melissa Caldwell, Director of Research and Publications at the Los Angeles, California-based Parents Television Council, speaking from that group's Washington office:

Melissa Caldwell, Director of Research and Publications at the Parents Television Council

"'I think what he [Boddie] is doing is commendable, and he should be applauded, and I think other franchisees should follow his lead,' she said. 'He's standing up to CKE Restaurants and choosing not to show this ad that is clearly irresponsible. The commercial is basically soft-core porn. It's being targeted to young men, but it's been shown where young children can see it.'"

You can listen to an audio interview with Ms. Caldwell, recorded on May 24, 2005, on the occasion of the first launch of the controversial commercial, in which she characterized the running of that ad by CKE, Inc., owner of both Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, as "a violation of the trust that families have bestowed on the restaurant chain" and said that "if they really want to self-identify as, you know, a sleaze-peddling, pandering restauranteur, I think that's something important that consumers need to know" by clicking here.

Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for CKE and hence both Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that "franchise operators are given a choice of which ads, if any, to run. A few have said no to Hilton, 'but a majority of the system is running the ad.'"

Brad Haley, Executive Vice President of Marketing, CKE Restaurants, Carl's Jr.'s holding company

To listen to an in-depth discussion about the impact of the first advertising campaign using this commercial, run in the Western U.S. on behalf of CKE's Carl's Jr. franchises, on this second wave, being broadcast in the U.S. Midwest and Southeast on behalf of CKE's Hardee's franchises, with Brad Haley, executive vice present of CKE, click here.

To listen to an earlier audio interview with Mr. Haley, at the height of the controversy surrounding the Paris Hilton "Spicy BBQ Six Dollar Burger" television commercial, click here.

To learn more about Paris Hilton's real hamburger preferences, visit "With only three days to go before the launch of her Hardee's hamburger ad, report surfaces that Paris Hilton prefers McDonalds."

a $6 piece of meat

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