In a series of tie-in promotion ads for Carl’s Jr. using
characters from the upcoming X-Men: Days
of Future Past, we see Mystique, Quicksilver and Colossus, each in their
own ad, eating some big gooey burger (or some such food item), with lots of
gross squishy sound effects and dripping, (un)sexy sauce.
I always have a bit of a problem with these empty-headed
movie tie-in ads, because I think there ought to be a clever idea to make the
tie-in work well to sell the product and
really help intrigue viewers about the movie too, but so often movie-themed
product advertising is just vapid and a missed opportunity, and these are no
different. They’re not especially offensive or anything, they’re just
uninteresting; and I think that’s a shame, because superheroes have such potential for fun tie-ins.
But I have to wonder, would the X-Men really eat Carl’s Jr.
burgers? Wouldn’t eating big greasy fast food burgers make them feel all gross
and sluggish, and make them flabby? I’d think superheroes would have to eat
right to stay in that kind of tip-top super shape. Or maybe one of their mutant
super powers is being able to eat fast food without getting fat or slovenly.
But I would think these ads could be worked into the plot of
the movie to say that Carl’s Jr. food has been scientifically engineered to be
irresistible to mutants, and it’s been created specially as a weapon to use
against the X-Men by the fearful anti-mutant bigots in the government; and in
the ad we see a burger left out for one of the X-Men, and they cannot resist
but go and eat it; and they get so caught up in enjoying eating it, that they
become obsessed, and then they become addicted. And then they can’t break
themselves away from eating the Carl’s Jr. burgers again and again, one after
another, until they’re obese and slovenly. And during this time, the X-Men are
one-by-one lured out of their headquarters by the delicious Carl’s Jr. burgers,
and one-by-one they fall victim to this plot, irresistibly drawn to eat the
juicy beguiling burgers, until the mutant menace is eliminated once and for
all, not by killing or imprisoning them, but by making them fat, lethargic slaves
to unhealthy fast food. Mwa ha ha! And
in this way, whenever we eat Carl’s Jr. food, we can feel like we, too, are
X-Men, drawn to and defeated by the mouthwatering siren’s song of bloated burger
bondage.
Then the ads could say that the Carl’s Jr. burgers are so
delicious, they’re irresistible! I know it might make them seem unhealthy and
fattening and all, but after all, that’s true, and at least here they’d just come
right out and say so when we all know it already, but they’d also be telling us
that they’re so yummy, they even defeated the X-Men, and that would tie
directly into the movies in a relevant and memorable way that’s actually
accurately related to the product being advertised, and show why it is that the
X-Men movie characters would be using the products in a believable scenario
that makes us feel like we’re superheroes too when we give in to our desire for
Carl’s Jr. And the slogan could even be that if the X-Men cannot resist the
allure of Carl’s Jr. burgers, what chance have the rest of us got? And then
they could say, as the tag: “Succumb to the power of great taste!” or something
like that. Because after all, Carl’s Jr. food is apparently so irresistibly
delicious, even strong superheroes like the X-Men cannot resist it! (Even
though they know it’s a dastardly plot to defang their mutant abilities, still
they are inexorably drawn to it like magnetic metal is to Magneto!)
See what I mean? Wouldn’t that be more fun than what they did
with the real ads?
Here are the X-Men Carl’s Jr. ads I’m referring to:
