Burger chain Carl's Jr. says its new
commercial featuring TV sex kitten Paris Hilton was so hot, its Web servers
suffered a meltdown.
Visitors flooded a special page set up by the company last week, but
unexpected traffic volume caused the host servers to crash at 1:14 p.m.
Friday. Service was restored within four hours.
"It was a mixed blessing," said Brad Haley,
executive vice president of marketing for Carl's Jr. "We wanted to create a
Paris Hilton site that would attract visitors, and we certainly achieved
that objective. Unfortunately, we just weren't prepared for the influx of
traffic, and disappointed a number of visitors. It turned out that Paris was
too hot for our servers."
As WorldNetDaily previously reported, Hilton is shown in the 30-second spot
eating a spicy burger while washing a Bentley in a revealing swimsuit,
prompting concerns of indecency on broadcast airwaves.
"This commercial is basically soft-core porn," Melissa Caldwell, research
director for the Parents Television Council, told the Los Angeles Times.
"It's inappropriate for television."
Meanwhile, the head of the fast-food chain ducked out of a scheduled
appearance on the Fox News Channel tonight to discuss the campaign.
"The CEO of Carl's Jr., Andrew Puzder, was supposed to appear this evening
but canceled," said Bill O'Reilly, host of "The O'Reilly Factor." "He did
however send us a statement that says he considers Miss Hilton to be an
intrguing cultural icon."
In Puzder's stead, O'Reilly interviewed Barbara Lippert, a reporter for
AdWeek magazine, who felt Carl's Jr. made the right decision to air the
commercial simply because of the free media attention it's sparking.
"If you need to get someone to get on her hands and knees and eat a Whopper,
[Paris Hilton] is the Einstein of gorging on all fours," Lippert said. "This
particular skill set plays very well with her, soaping, licking, moving in a
bathing suit. You've got her strong suit there."
"They're doing something as semi-pornographic as they possibly can," Lippert
added, "and I think if you saw Paris Hilton in other commercials, she's just
an annoying B-list celebrity and it's unbearable to listen to her talk. Here
at least they don't have her say a word."
The Hilton spot will also be used for Hardee's restaurants, which, like
Carl's Jr., is owned by California-based CKE Restaurants.
The new commercials are produced by Mendelsohn Zien of Los Angeles, the same
company that created a campaign using an unborn baby threatening his mother
if she continues to eat spicy food.
This isn't the first time Hilton has created a stir on the Internet. In
fact, the star of Fox's "The Simple Life" and Hilton Hotel heiress became a
houshold name when a homemade sex video with an ex-boyfriend was displayed
online.
|
