Statement by Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of NCOSE
Washington, DC – Carl’s Jr., one of four brands under CKE Restaurants, recently released a controversial commercial where scantily clad women play volleyball over the Mexican border in order to promote a new Tex Mex burger. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) denounces this ad as a sexist objectification of women’s bodies.
“Apparently, Carl’s Jr. can only sell their hamburgers by surrounding them with degrading images of overly sexualized women slapping each others butts and pouring water on themselves while in bikinis for the enjoyment of male spectators,” said Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of NCOSE. “This commercial is a continuation of CKE Restaurants marketing strategy to exploit women in their misogynistic ads for fast food. A society based on equality and respect has no place for companies that seek to profit from demeaning sexual advertisements. Women are more than meat.”
CKE Restaurants is on the National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s Dirty Dozen list, which names twelve mainstream contributors to sexual exploitation. To learn more about this campaign, please visit: https://endsexualexploitation.org/cke.
NCOSE also encourages the public to boycott CKE Restaurants, Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, and to use the hashtags #CutTheCarls and #MoreThanMeat.
If you would like to schedule an interview, please contact Haley Halverson at (202) 393-7245 or haley@ncose.com.
