Carl's Jr. Will Be Purging the Relics of Its Ad Past on Twitch

Last week, CKE restaurants, Carl's Jr. and Hardees, promised that here on out, its advertising would focus on "food, not boobs" in a new brand campaign out of 72andSunny that introduced us to the company's fictional founder Carl Hardee Sr. and his lovably clueless scion Jr. The fast feeder will be cementing that promise even further in a stunt scheduled to happen live this Saturday on gaming and social video live streaming platform Twitch. During "The Purge," CKE will be gathering in the desert relics from its advertising past , including 900 gallons of flammable tanning oil, a crate of bikinis, old cases of Jr.'s meat cologne. There, they'll be incinerated at the hands of Carls Sr. and Jr., with the help of YouTube stars The Slow Mo Guys, known for their dynamic films that capture objects and substances splashing, blowing up and shattering in slow motion. The event, conceived out of 72andSunny and produced out of Tool, will be fully interactive, allowing viewers to help the Carls decide their methods of destruction. It will stream live on the Twitch homepage on Saturday, April 8, from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. EST/2 p.m. - 4 p.m. PST. "With this brand transformation campaign, we're figuratively blowing up the past, so we thought it'd be fun to invite fans to help us literally blow it up too," said 72andSunny Executive Creative Director and Partner Jason Norcross in a statement. " It's just another example of the brand having fun with its past in order to chart a new course that gets back to focusing on the food." "Carl's Jr. and Hardee's new advertising direction is all about our brands' pioneering spirits, and that has always extended beyond just the food we serve in our restaurants," added CKE CMO Brad Haley. "We pioneered the use of charbroilers, made drive-thru's a thing, and led the premium-quality charge with better-for-you options like all-natural, grass-fed beef burgers and all-natural, charbroiled chicken fillets with no antibiotics ever. Now, to help communicate our new advertising campaign direction, we've pioneered a new kind of partnership with our friends at Twitch." Twitch has been gradually gaining momentum as a platform for inventive ad stunts. Previously Wieden & Kennedy and Old Spice invited gamers to lead a guy on a Nature Adventure, while Audi and Muhtayzik Hoffer hosted on the platform a video-game version of Le Mans, a tie-up between Audi and the game Forza Motorsport. CKE isn't the first brand to boldly say farewell to its advertising of the past. Recently, Brazilian beer brand Skol tapped female artists to reimagine its misogynistic marketing for a more forward-thinking, modern day audience.

Carl's Jr. Will Be Purging the Relics of Its Ad Past on Twitch

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