CKE Restaurants (NYSE: CKR), parent company of Hardee's and Carl Jr.'s is suing Jack in the Box (NYSE: JBX) for a television commercial which allegedly suggests that the company's famous angus burgers are made from cow anus (see YouTube video above).
This is one of the more entertaining legal cases I've seen in awhile. According to the Associated Press, "CKE claims the ads create the misleading impression that Jack In The Box's new 100 percent sirloin burgers use a better quality of meat than the Angus beef used by Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. CKE claims the spots confuse consumers by comparing sirloin, a cut of meat found on all cattle, with Angus, which is a breed of cattle."
According to CKE CEO Andrew F. Puzder "They're not being funny. They need to stop misleading people about what Angus beef is."
Here's the problem: They actually are being funny. And I certainly don't claim to be a legal expert, but I think that part of Jack in the Box's defense is going to be "Lighten up and learn to take a joke."
Puzder said that CKE had asked Jack in the Box to pull the ad, but the company refused, pointing to a Carl Jr.'s ad which suggested that its milkshakes were better than the competition. Here's the best part: Puzder said the comparison was not valid because they had not claimed that competitors made their milk from cow anuses.
This whole "scandal" seems like a tempest in a tea pot to me. Jack in the Box's commercial was a clever pun on the word "angus" and certainly not misleading. Did anyone watching it really come away thinking that angus burgers were made from anuses?
Warren Buffett, tells us more!
Oil has dropped $13, so gasoline should drop 30 cents, Americans hope
Wal-Mart's new Supermercado concept could be huge
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-28-2007 @ 4:34PM
sydney196 said...
Proof read.. cow anus is not funny. GOod article though
5-28-2007 @ 10:57PM
Scott Schabot said...
It's a clever ad, and funny too, Americans are smart enough to understand the joke and not be mislead, unless you work at CKE I suppose.
5-30-2007 @ 9:21PM
fisher6188 said...
I thought the ad was incredibly clever and funny. Their ad agency is terrific! Having said that, I will never think of Angus in the smae way again.
5-30-2007 @ 9:21PM
fisher6188 said...
I thought it was incredibly funny. The JITB ads are very good. Kudos to their ad agency.
6-05-2007 @ 12:21PM
Brenda said...
I love the pun and ALL the JITB commercials for that matter. I have had my own boycott of Carl's Jr. for some time because of their sleezy commercials and their marketers tell me that they do it because it sells their stuff. Now it's biting ya back!!! Love you Jack,there is nothing wrong with your commercial!
6-08-2007 @ 5:22AM
Shawn said...
One would think that the rest of the country IS smart enough to know what Angus Beef is, but the 100's of calls received from people who think they really are eating 'Anus' speaks for itself. Didn't JITB Sirloin kill like 600 people back in the 1990's (E.coli)
"More than 600 people got sick in January 1993 from eating undercooked Jack in the Box hamburgers contaminated with E. coli, a bacterium that can cause diarrhea, abdominal pain and, in severe cases, kidney failure and even death. Most of the victims were children living in Washington state; four of them died. "
6-20-2007 @ 11:03PM
Billy Bob said...
I personally don't think that the majority of Americans (especially the demographic that this commercial was targeted at) know what Angus cattle are. I think this is a definate low (even for the advertising industry) - playing on people's stupidity for gain of market share (but now that I think about it, that sounds like a pretty accurate definition for advertising).
6-28-2007 @ 12:54PM
XanderZane said...
The commercial is hilarious. I like most of Jack in the Box's commercials anyways. The one with the steak & lobster was to funny with all the lobsters attacking Jack. The one with the cheerleaders was also pretty funny too. "LEAVE!" lol!!
CKE will lose this case, as in the commercial they never say that Agnus beef comes from the cattle's anus. All Jack says is, "You don't want to know." Of course people immediately thought it was the worth part of the cattle and that's what the commercial was suppose to do. It doesn't mention anything about the competition. Does customer know what type of meat is in every fast food restaurant? Hell no. So this lawsuit has no merit really.
7-04-2007 @ 2:51PM
Kenny Bouy - Naples said...
These franchises are not in Fla. but the commercials are damn funny..however, all those 3rd worlders in CA. probably view the commercials as gospel..do jihadist muslims eat beef?..or just angus?..or pig angus?