CARPINTERIA Calif. After years of tapping into the “talents” of sexy young actresses to pitch their premium burgers, Carl’s Jr. is changing its ways. It is now using a sexy young actress to sell salads.
Carl’s Jr. debuted Wednesday a line of premium entrée salads featuring warm grilled chicken. Reality television star Kim Kardashian has been called in to demonstrate in ads and other multimedia efforts that salads can be sexy.
The television commercials — to debut on Facebook and on YouTube next week and on television Dec. 28 — will show Kardashian enjoying her “favorite pastime:” a picnic in bed, featuring one of Carl’s Jr. salads. Needless to say, generous amounts of low-fat dressing drips onto the curvaceous star of the television show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”
“It’s true, I love to have bed picnics,” Kardashian says in the ad. “I’m such a neat freak, but I put out my towel and eat in bed, and then, when it gets all messy, I take a hot bubble bath after to wash it off.”
The ad was created by Mendelsohn/Zien and directed by Chris Applebaum, who worked on previous commercials for Carl’s Jr. parent company CKE Restaurants Inc., which also owns the Hardee’s brand. Earlier commercials featured Paris Hilton washing a car while eating a burger, and Padma Lakshmi eating a messy burger in a low-cut dress.
Kardashian, Carl’s Jr. latest spokeswoman, also will host “The Ultimate Salad Lunch Date,” a live and interactive Facebook event on Jan. 13. Customers who purchase any of the new salads between Dec. 30 and Jan. 12 will be given a code granting access to Kardashian to ask questions during the lunch date. No code is necessary to watch the event via streaming video.
The new salad line at Carl’s Jr. includes:
- The Cranberry, Apple, Walnut Grilled Chicken salad on a lettuce mix that includes green leaf, baby spinach and arugula, with raspberry vinaigrette. The suggested price is $4.99 and the salad has an estimated 450 calories with dressing.
- The Southwest Grilled Chicken salad features chicken on top of sliced red onions, roasted corn and black beans with shredded cheese and bacon bits, topped with a chipotle Caesar dressing and crunchy tortilla strips. The recommended price is $4.99 and estimated calories 710 calories with dressing.
- The Original Grilled Chicken includes marinated chicken on top of red onions, shredded cheese, fresh wedge tomatoes, cucumber slices and croutons with a choice of dressing. Topped with Carl’s Jr. low fat balsamic, the salad has 235 calories and is available for a recommended $4.79.
Though Carl’s Jr. has long emphasized their gut-busting premium burgers, salads are not new to the chain. CKE Restaurants said Carl’s Jr. pioneered the entrée salad in the quick-service sector 20 years ago with the Charbroiled Chicken Salad, introduced in 1988. In 1974, the chain was among the first to offer a salad bar, though that feature was later removed from restaurants in the 1980s.
“Our new line of grilled chicken salads put Carl’s Jr. squarely back in the forefront with salads that are just as big and indulgent as the burgers people have come to expect from us,” said Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing at Carl's Jr. “With ingredients like grilled marinated chicken, dried cranberries and candied walnuts, these salads are so full of flavor that even our most passionate burger lovers will be enticed by them.”
Also, for a limited time, Carl’s Jr. will offer a 42 oz. promotional cup featuring a picture of the salads and Kardashian.
CKE operates or franchises a system of 1,221 Carl’s Jr. restaurants and 1,913 Hardee’s units.
Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].