The Subtle Art of Advertising: How to Sell a Sexy Hamburger

How do you sell a Hamburger? This is a question that has plagued the marketing community for ages. What does it take to grab someones attention and convince them to choose a Whooper, Big Mac or whatever Wendy's sells.

Hardee's is a restaurant chain in the United States. They hit on the revolutionary idea to use an attractive spokesperson to sell a massive hamburger. A couple of years ago their corporate partner Carl's Jr used Paris Hilton in a car wash. They have now decided to use Padma Lakshmi.

The ad opens on Padma walking through an open air market suggestively pawing through fine food, which may be a public health violation and is certainly rude. She leaves the market, without having bought a damn thing. The host of Top Chef is a food expert and has tasted many of the finer things in life like her ex husband Salman Rushdie who is 23 years her senior. She sits down on the stairs of a lovely brownstone located on a Los Angeles soundstage. She opens up the bag and begins to devour the burger. She certainly hasn't learned table manners in her travels. As the burger is an all beef bacon burger we learn that Padma is neither a practicing muslim nor hindu. We also learn that Hardee's doesn't include napkins in their bags as they are environmentally conscious. That's taking green living a little too far. Unfortunately Padma has to use her fingers and tongue to clean up the mess this burger creates. I hope she washed her hands before eating. Who knows what she touched in that dingy market?

Unfortunately Hardee's is not in Canada so I can't try out this burger. I'm not sure I would want to eat at a restaurant that doesn't provide napkins. Apparently Top Chef is on Food Network Canada. I think I'm gonna check that out.