Hit the mute button

Usually when one of the big fast food companies brings out a new sandwich, the Food Police is in full battle cry about fat content and how chubby we are. The uproar over the new Carl’s Jr. TV ad amuses because it seems the same group of folks have got heartburn over it, but their subject is different.

It is sexism, not calories.

Perhaps you’ve seen the ad. There’s an attractive young teacher, in a tight skirt in a high school classroom, with a backside that is the obsession of a couple of her students. Suddenly they jump up and start rapping about how they prefer “flat buns.” After some song and dance, a sandwich appears, featuring its large size and flat bread slices, as opposed to buns. (Greasy little secret: It’s a slow day in the editorial writing department when you’re writing about fast food sandwiches and what kind of “buns” are offered.) The ad has become known as Patty Melt. Get it? Ha-ha.

A number of protest groups have fired off letters to the networks and newspaper editorial writers decrying the image. (Maybe it’s the same bunch that danced to the David Lee Roth MTV video, ‘I’m Hot for Teacher,’ eons ago.)

There’s an old Madison Avenue canard about not selling the steak, but the sizzle. And here we are again. What’s also a bit funny, is that Hardee’s, the parent company of Carl’s Jr., caught a similar protest a few years ago about advertising that featured Paris Hilton washing a car in a black bikini. It was an ad for hamburgers. Darn. Whatever happened to selling “special sauce,” or flame broiled, versus fried?

Our remedy: Hit the mute button on the TV, or order one with cheese.