Controversy often helps the advertisements to get noticed, and to some extent, it helps to give a momentum to brand promotion. But, it will become an unhealthy one for the brand, if it provokes the distributors or franchisee. That is what Hardeeâs is facing now.
Hardeeâs is not new to Controversy. In fact, they have enjoyed a considerable amount of public attention just because of the controversies surrounding their commercials. They have presented pornography of meat through Padmalakshmi and Paris Hilton. However, strong reactions over those ads had helped them to make their products noticeable. But, the latest advertisement campaign signals possibilities of backlashes.
The campaign asks consumers to suggest names for the biscuit holes. The long list of responses includes âgoody balls,â âcreamy sweet holes,â âpuffy nuts,â âglory holes,â and âbisticles.â This advertising strategy of connecting sex with food items, has stirred angry responses, even from a franchisee.
Ben Mayo Boddie, chairman of Rocky Mount, N.C.-based Boddie-Noell Enterprises, has said that they wont run the ads in the market. This discord from Boddie-Noell which owns and operates nearly 350 Hardeeâs restaurants may not be an amusing news for Hardeeâs. Because, usually mild controversies won’t affect peopleâs bying habits. But, what if it affects the marketing system?
