The Hardee’s Flat Buns commercial has caused an uproar in Tennessee with Tennessee Education Association President Dr. Earl Wiman (who you’ve got to hear) saying, “It is unbelievably demeaning.” The ad shows a female teacher dancing seductively in front of a class that raps about the positivity of flat buns which the teacher, of course, does not possess. The commercial is part of a campaign launched earlier this summer which included the Flat Buns website.
Wiman wants concerned citizens to complain to Hardee’s, saying, “I am asking that all of our members and the public who care about children and their education to contact their local Hardee’s to voice their concerns.”
Hardee’s EVP of Marketing Brad Haley counters, saying, “If the ad were taken literally, I could certainly understand people being concerned about it but it was designed to be funny.” No rolling over from the company that made washing a Bentley with Paris Hilton a pillar of intelligently low-brow advertising. And we mean that as a good thing. After all, this is the company that brought us the big-mouthed, straw eating girl.
Certainly it’s never a good thing to devalue under appreciated, underpaid, overworked teachers but this high schooler’s wet dream is so over the top anyone who can’t see it’s humor needs help. Clearly, the teacher in the ad is not a teacher. Clearly the students in the ad are not students. Clearly, Hardee’s isn’t advocating teachers climb on their desks and dance in front of the class. Clearly, Hardee’s just wants people to see this ad and have something to laugh about when they walk into a Hardee’s restaurant and order a flat bun Patty Melt. Clearly, some people are over reacting.
