en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornification
2 corrections found
Advertising by Carl's Jr. in 2016 featuring scantily clad women and suggestive language were replaced by a "food-centric" approach in 2019, the change attributed to the MeToo movement.
Carl's Jr.'s shift away from sexualized ads began in March 2017, not 2019. Multiple contemporaneous reports describe the brand's 'food, not boobs' rebrand as launching in 2017.
Full reasoning
This sentence gets the timeline wrong. Carl's Jr. publicly announced the end of its long-running sexualized ad style in March 2017, when it launched a new campaign centered on a fictional "Carl Hardee Sr." and explicitly shifted the brand's focus to the food.
- Adweek reported that the new campaign was "launching today" and said Carl Hardee Sr. aimed to put the focus on "food, not boobs" as part of "a major brand overhaul".
- Inside Edition likewise reported on March 30, 2017 that Carl's Jr. was "dropping the sexy ads that made them famous" and "moving in a new direction ... and focus on the food."
- A later MediaPost retrospective described this as the brand's "pivotal 2017 campaign" in which Carl Hardee Sr. apologized for the sexist ads and pledged to focus instead on the brand's food.
So the replacement of the sexualized approach did not first happen in 2019; it was already publicly underway in 2017.
3 sources
- Carl's Jr. Satirizes Its Own Sexist Ads Of Yore 11/07/2018
Carl's Jr. has tried all kinds of creative tacks since its pivotal 2017 campaign ... Carl Hardee Sr. apologized for the sexist ads ... and pledged to focus instead on the brand's food.
- Burgers, Not Boobs: Carl's Jr. Brilliantly Flips the Script by Tearing Down Its Own Smutty Ads
The new campaign launching today [March 2017] ... aims to put the focus on "food, not boobs," with a new marketing strategy ... kicking off a major brand overhaul for the fast-food restaurants.
- Carl's Jr. Ditching Scantily Clad Models in New Burger Ad Campaign | Inside Edition
Updated: 2:20 PM PDT, March 30, 2017 ... Carl's Jr. is dropping the sexy ads that made them famous ... now the burger chain is moving in a new direction to bring in new customers and focus on the food.
After the episode, teens were actually more likely to engage in safer sexual activity
The cited Friends study did not find that teens changed their sexual behavior. It measured recall, beliefs, self-reported learning, and parent discussions—not whether teens engaged in safer sexual activity.
Full reasoning
This claim overstates what the underlying research found. The Pediatrics study on the Friends condom-efficacy episode did not measure whether teens went on to have safer sex. Its stated outcome measures were:
- viewership of the episode,
- recall of the condom-efficacy message,
- beliefs about condoms,
- self-reported change in condom knowledge, and
- discussions with parents.
The abstract's results say that 65% of viewers recalled the condom-failure plotline, 10% talked to an adult about condom efficacy, and some viewers reported learning about condoms. Its conclusion is that entertainment television can improve adolescent sexual knowledge. It does not report that teens became more likely to engage in safer sexual activity.
A RAND summary of the same research likewise says the episode could teach accurate messages about sexual risks and stimulate conversation with adults, and explicitly notes that the study "did not find dramatic changes in teens' sexual knowledge or belief"—again, not behavior change.
So this sentence misstates the study by turning a finding about knowledge/recall/discussion into a claim about actual safer sexual behavior.
2 sources
- Entertainment television as a healthy sex educator: the impact of condom-efficacy information in an episode of friends - PubMed
Outcome measures: Viewership of the Friends episode, recall of the condom-efficacy message, beliefs about condoms, self-reported change in condom knowledge, and discussions of condom efficacy with parents ... Conclusions: Entertainment television can serve as a healthy sex educator ... to improve adolescent sexual knowledge.
- Does Watching Sex on Television Influence Teens’ Sexual Activity? - RAND Research Brief
The study did not find dramatic changes in teens' sexual knowledge or belief ... entertainment shows that include portrayals of sexual risks and consequences can potentially have two beneficial effects on teen sexual awareness: They can teach accurate messages about sexual risks, and they can stimulate a conversation with adults.