Riley Cook

ENGL 120
Professor Bruner
6 March 2015
Essay #2

What Makes Hardees Burger So Hot?

It is so annoying watching an enjoyable program on television and having to deal
with breaks for commercials throughout the entire program. Most commercials have a
persuasive message to them in order to sell their products. A common approach is using
sexy females in the advertisement. Companies use this method in order to catch a males
attention and help with selling their product (Patzer). The Hardees commercial, featuring
Katherine Webb, uses sexual content in order to sell their burger, the all-new Buffalo
Blue Cheese Burger. Hardees is using gender stereotyping and sexism in this particular
commercial.
The beginning of the commercial starts out showing ethos, the scene is at a big
league football game and the camera immediately goes to Katherine Webb, in the stands.
The commercial didnt come out first and announce its credibility, but it shows signs of
how it actually is credible; Katherine then takes the burger out of the Hardees bag and a
drop of buffalo sauce lands on her football jersey. Then the scene switches from a football
game to an empty stadium with a spotlight on the model, where Katherine strips off her
jersey. At this point, she is wearing a black leather short skirt with a matching bra and red
heels. The music becomes very erotic and the main focus is on the model. She continues

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eating the burger as the narrator describes the burger and whats on it. The commercial
uses a great deal of pathos to show how hot the burger is; the viewer starts to see Webb
sweating and rubbing ice cubes from a Hardees cup and using a fan to cool herself. The
male narrator voice shows how he is attracted to what is going on and how sexy this
woman is while eating a burger. The Hardees cup also demonstrates silent ethos, because
you can see the logo. Then she swipes up some sauce from her leg with her finger and
licks the sauce off very sensually. Her sensational content with the burger triggers a
mans emotions. At the end of the commercial shows her on the big screen at the game,
continuing eating her burger and suddenly a football player in the game gets distracted by
her and then gets tackled (Webb). The Hardees commercial doesnt demonstrate any
logos, but it uses so much pathos that the commercial is strong enough to send their
persuasive message for their burger. You dont need to use all three appeals to reach an
audiences attention (Audience Appeals). Even though the commercial is only fortyseven seconds long, it shows so much sexual content in the short amount of time.
The main audience of the commercial is directed to heterosexual males and in the
commercial a woman is used that most males are attracted to, adding a sense of emotion.
The age group of heterosexual males this commercial is directed to ranges from teenage
boys to older men or any age a man is interested in attractive women. Hardees uses a
young attractive woman in order to distinguish why their burger is better than other
restaurants (Audience Appeals). The woman gets a males full attention and sends them
a persuading message into buying the burger and increasing sales. Attractive women used
in advertising as only seen as objects (Patzer). Every time a man goes to buy the burger, it

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reminds him who was eating the burger and what made him want to get the burger in the
first place.
A man might think Katherine Webb actually eats at Hardees, when in reality she
has probably not stepped one foot in one. Also, a woman in real life would never eat a
burger while stripping and rubbing ice cubes on her body. Women models being used in
advertisement are irrelevant because no model would be eating that many calories in one
serving. But, Hardees is using Pathos to mess with man emotions and get his attention,
and making him believe a model does this (Audience Appeal). The commercial is
very degrading to women because it is using womans body to gain a males attention.
Women are used as marketing instruments in advertisements, this is has a negative
affect on womens social role in society. This is also very insulting to the social etiquette.
Companies using attractive women does not only affect men but can also make women
feel insecure of themselves. For example, a womans could be watching the commercial
where he finds the sexy female attractive and her self-esteem is shot down. However,
many companies believe this strategy shows no problem and they just regard it as an
ethical practice. A woman flaunting around her body on television advertisements,
doesnt get earn a good respect from a man; she creates a sense that men are superior to
women. For many years companies have been using women in their advertisements and
in modern time companies still continue finding ways to use women in their
advertisements in order to entice buyers (Patzer).
Many people watching television care less about the commercials shown during
their program, however many commercials go to far with their advertising. Hardees made
the decision to degrade women and use them as object in order to sell their burger. The

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only thing that makes their burger really hot is using an attractive model in their
commercial. The company has taken advantage of the female role and made the
commercial very male biased. Although, Hardees can say there was only one good thing
in their commercial and it is not their burger.

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Works Cited
Patzer,GordonL."AComparisonofAdvertisementEffects:SexyFemaleCommunicator
VsNonSexyFemaleCommunicator."AssociationForConsumerResearch.N.p.,
n.d.Web.23Feb.2015.<http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/viewconference
proceedings.aspx?Id=9698>.
"AudienceAppeals."HardeesGirls.N.p.,14Nov.2012.Web.23Feb.2015.
<https://hardeesgirls.wordpress.com/audienceappeals/>.
Webb, Katherine. Buffalo Blue Cheese Burger. Hardees: you tube. 19 Feb. 2015

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Reflection
Thisessaydefinitelyopenedmyeyesupwhenitcametoviewingcommercials.I
usedtowatchtelevisionandignoreallthecommercialsthatwouldairduringmy
program.Afterthisassignment,Ineverrealizedthelengthsadvertisersgotoinorderto
distributetheirmessage.IwrotemyessayonhowHardeesusedattractivewomenmodels
toselltheirburger.Ineverrealizedhowdegradingthiswastowomen.Ithinkthehardest
partaboutwritingthisessaywasdoingtheresearchforit.Iwouldusesearchenginesto
findsourcesontheInternetandalotofinformationIfoundwasjustreviewsfrom
averagepeoplestatingtheiropiniononthecommercial.Itwasreallydifficultformeto
getfactualinformation.Luckily,Iwasabletofindsourcesthathelpedmeconductmy
research.IthinkwatchingtheyoutubevideoontherhetoricalanalysisoftheBudwiser
commercial,ProfessorBrunerprovidedtous,helpedmealotwhenIbegantoresearch
andwriteaboutmypaper.Watchingthecommercialbeingbrokenupandexplained
reallyhelpedmeknowwhattolookforwhenanalyzingthecommercialofmychoice.I
thinkthebestpartofmypaperiswhenIamactuallydescribingwhatishappeninginthe
commercialandbreakingdownwhatpartsdescribedpathosandethos.IfIhadmoretime
forthispaper,IwouldprocrastinatelessandIwouldaddmorefactsabouthow
discriminatethiscommercialistowomenandhowusingattractivewomenin
commercialscreatesanegativeeffectonoursociety.Thisassignmenthadverylittle
time,butIamdefinitelyproudofthispaperbecausenowIpaymoreattentionto
commercialsandrealizehowsomeadvertisementsactuallycanoffendpeople.Ireally
enjoyedthispaperandbeingabletolookatcommercialsdifferentlyotherthanignoring

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advertisementsandcallingthemannoyingormybathroombreakfrommytelevision
program.IamgladtosayIhaveofficiallycompletedessaynumbertwo!