Fast food chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardees are diving into the non-fungible token craze with artwork that nods to its own risqué past. The NFT features a scene from the chain’s 2015 Super Bowl commercials, where celebrity endorser, Charlotte McKinney, tries out a burger on-camera to create a “bite shot.”
The artwork, called “Charlotte’s Bite Shot,” alludes to the chain’s attempts to move away from its more raunchy advertising of the past, which would often feature scantily clad supermodels and celebrities like Heidi Klum or Paris Hilton.
“Working with her to auction off our first NFT is the ultimate way to turn the page and move forward from campaigns of our past, while still maintaining our provocative style of doing things,” Patty Trevino, senior VP, brand marketing, CKE Restaurants, parent of the restaurants, said in a statement. The company says the Super Bowl commercial from which the artwork draws its image helped the reach milestones faster than any marketing at the time.
NFTs are unique digital tokens that signal ownership of an artwork, a sort of online certificate-of-ownership that’s backed by a blockchain, the same tech that underpins cryptocurrencies. The broader crypto craze has unleashed a trend of brands creating their own NFT artwork in the hopes of tapping into collectability and novelty, although some artwork is more successful than others. The artist Beeple has sold NFT-based artwork for $69 million, for instance, while artwork by Nathan Phillips, co-founder of creative agency Technology, Humans and Taste, still awaits a bid.
The artwork from Carl’s Jr. and Hardees, created by the artist Grace Casas, will go on auction today on OpenSea, an NFT-focused marketplace. Carl’s Jr. and Hardees says net proceeds will go to a nonprofit called The Simon Foundation for Continence, which supports urinary and bowel incontinence.
Other brands experimenting with NFTs include Taco Bell, e.l.f. Cosmetics and Stella Artois, among others.