Consumerism: A Taste of Evil
| Published 12/10/04

Graphic by: Tim Tuley

I feel the senselessness of television has been and will be the downfall of the proletariat in American society. It contributes to and will eventually destroy whatever sense of non-materialistic free thinking we tend to associate with the human mind. That said, I may continue with this affirmation.

The commercial that caught my eye for this assignment did so for its blatant misrepresentation of itself and its overall simplicity, nature, longevity, effect on the masses and success as an advertising campaign. It depicts sexual desire and combines it with materialistic desire. We have failed to stop or even quell this ancient advertising tactic, no matter how far we think we have evolved intellectually. The simple fact is sex sells.

The Hardee's Corporation came up with a brilliant follow-up to its original Angus Beef Thickburger campaign. It showcases the owner of the company -- his gelatinous form resting comfortably in a wooden high-backed chair -- proclaiming the wondrous trend-setting change from ordinary frozen fast food beef patties to the succulent mom-and-pop quality angus beef patties.

Granted, the quality of the meat promised was intriguing, if not appetizing. However, the fact that the changes were broadcast by a man who consumes his own product and is obviously visually unhealthy stunted the effect of the changes by a significant margin. The follow-up to this apparent cliff-jumping suicidal advertising campaign was phenomenal. It was so simple, precise and so openly-sexual that it boosted the sale of Hardee's burgers by 25 percent: a woman in a cowgirl outfit slowly is riding a mechanical bull, while consuming a monstrous burger as the various condiments leak slowly out upon her ample breasts.

This far superior, yet primitive, marketing technique asks everyone the same question as posed by the great Paul McCartney, "All the lonely people, where do they all belong?" The answer to that question is given by one woman, as far as any lonely person who watches more than 3 hours of television in a day is concerned.

Her answer, which is given during her silent moment of masticating ecstasy, is none other than the multi-billion dollar fast food franchise Hardee's. It's where the average American can feed their bulging appetites for excess and their lust for cheap consumerism. They can squeeze their bulbous bottoms into plastic booths -- built standard for persons of the middleweight persuasion -- and eat foods laden with excess fat, calories and enough cholesterol to stop even the healthiest of body buildersı arteries in their tracks. While they do this, they can also expect to lose weight, improve their sex appeal and accomplish the proverbial "score" with a beautiful woman who has a pension for mechanical bulls and bureaucratic all-American nonsense.

The woman is atop her writhing throne, staring into the camera like a temptress who has just found her million-dollar male miracle. There is a voice in the background. A subtle, quiet male voice letting you in on a secret; they could sell this burger by telling you how tasty it is, but instead the commercial fades out as the woman jerks into a turn allowing her full legs to distract your attention -- stimulating the pleasure centre of the brain in ways ground beef was never meant to.

One would say these commercial appeals mostly to young people, alienating the older crowd by alluding to sexuality, but this is not the case at all. Older Americans were also affected by this commercial. The traditional "country kitchen crowd" turned out as well as the younger crowd in this profit-gathering venture. The waning sexuality of the aging male was also piqued by this commercial in ways only our grandparents can imagine in the age of Viagra, Cialis and other erectile dysfunction drugs.

This commercial stands for more than just an appeal to local rednecks for a quick post-drink grubbing. It is more than the psychological reaffirmation to the normative influential sense that a group of people will flock to a business if they feel it will elevate their social status, raise their sex appeal and conform to the social norm that everyone wants the same thing -- in this case, sex. It conforms to the implied regime of the scantily clad model/actress consuming a fatty burger, while straddling a leather-encased hydraulic machine. It is a blatant, stabbing punch to the kidneys of the fascist conservative regime of Jerry Falwell and L. Ron Hubbard. Sex sells; sex has sold; sex will always sell a product, no matter how much they try to eliminate that particular humanistic instinct. Perhaps, despite our cognitive thought, we are nothing more than animals.

The irony of this commercial is obvious, if not a little childish in nature and incredibly funny. The average American, male or female, can eat all the gelatinous, greasy triple-thick angus beef burgers they could possibly desire and still resemble a 120 pound "beautiful person" with ample breasts and a perfect butt. They can do this without getting fat and making it acceptable to do so once again, a feeling not socially acceptable since the Hawaiian Tropic girl commercials were banned in America in the mid 80s.

The core of this commercial is as basic as they come, and I repeat myself when I say this: sex sells. Therein lies the rub. People believe theyıre better than to succumb to something so primal. They believe they are above something so adolescent. I will tell you now they are not. No one is. No one.