Wide World of Burgers- Burger chain Carl’s Jr. says its new commercial featuring TV sex kitten Paris Hilton was so hot, its Web servers suffered a meltdown.
Visitors flooded a special page set up by the company last week, but unexpected traffic volume caused the host servers to crash at 1:14 p.m. Friday. Service was restored within four hours.
“It was a mixed blessing,” said Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Carl’s Jr. “We wanted to create a Paris Hilton site that would attract visitors, and we certainly achieved that objective. Unfortunately, we just weren’t prepared for the influx of traffic, and disappointed a number of visitors. It turned out that Paris was too hot for our servers.”
As WorldNetDaily previously reported, Hilton is shown in the 30-second spot eating a spicy burger while washing a Bentley in a revealing swimsuit, prompting concerns of indecency on broadcast airwaves.
“This commercial is basically soft-core porn,” Melissa Caldwell, research director for the Parents Television Council, told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s inappropriate for television.”
Meanwhile, the head of the fast-food chain ducked out of a scheduled appearance on the Fox News Channel tonight to discuss the campaign.
“The CEO of Carl’s Jr., Andrew Puzder, was supposed to appear this evening but canceled,” said Bill O’Reilly, host of “The O’Reilly Factor.” “He did however send us a statement that says he considers Miss Hilton to be an intrguing cultural icon.”
In Puzder’s stead, O’Reilly interviewed Barbara Lippert, a reporter for AdWeek magazine, who felt Carl’s Jr. made the right decision to air the commercial simply because of the free media attention it’s sparking.
“If you need to get someone to get on her hands and knees and eat a Whopper, [Paris Hilton] is the Einstein of gorging on all fours,” Lippert said. “This particular skill set plays very well with her, soaping, licking, moving in a bathing suit. You’ve got her strong suit there.”
“They’re doing something as semi-pornographic as they possibly can,” Lippert added, “and I think if you saw Paris Hilton in other commercials, she’s just an annoying B-list celebrity and it’s unbearable to listen to her talk. Here at least they don’t have her say a word.”
The Hilton spot will also be used for Hardee’s restaurants, which, like Carl’s Jr., is owned by California-based CKE Restaurants.
The new commercials are produced by Mendelsohn Zien of Los Angeles, the same company that created a campaign using an unborn baby threatening his mother if she continues to eat spicy food.
This isn’t the first time Hilton has created a stir on the Internet. In fact, the star of Fox’s “The Simple Life” and Hilton Hotel heiress became a houshold name when a homemade sex video with an ex-boyfriend was displayed online.