When a teacher named Janis Adams approached her site administration for--um, help?--when she discovered a kid masturbating during class when her back was turned, the dude in charge of discipline gave her a lecture on hormones and girls with big breasts, telling her "Little Lady, you got to get used to it."
That was almost ten years ago, but the comment and its underlying attitudes set the stage for a series of other, more personal incidents targeting Adams and other teachers at her site. Adams finally decided she'd had enough, and sued Los Angeles Unified School District for failures to maintain a safe and civil workplace, free of hostile environment sexual harassment. An appeals court ruled last year that her case can be indeed retried under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), and that new trial is pending.
LAUSD has already spent nearly two million dollars in legal fees to characterize Adams' complaint as an overreaction. Should other teachers consider this water under the bridge? Ancient history? We've come a long way, Baby, so don't get your shorts in a wad?
Um, no.
Just in time for Fall classes, Carl's Jr. has rolled out a new ad campaign for its "patty melt," complete with a booty-slapping, pelvic-tilting Mary Kay Letourneau lookalike in a tight skirt (mostly a sad ripoff of--or homage to--Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher" vid). Two white boys rap and sneer about their "bun" preferences, draw and then erase part of the teacher's naked backside on the chalkboard, even flash brass knuckles at the end.
"Get used to it," indeed. You don't have to be a piece of meat. View--and rate--the ad yourself here.
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8 comments:
A new low even for Carl's Jr. Unbelievable.
Sick and wrong! What kind of message are we sending with this sort of ad? I had to seek administrative intervention this past spring when a student was sexually harassing me (openly staring at my chest during class, leaning over my desk and getting WAY too close to my face, saying filthy things in a foreign language, et cetera).
Teachers, boycott Carl's Jr.! In 'n' Out is better anyway!
I have only lived in CA for 4 years and in that time I am constantly reminded of the low opinion of teachers here. Once a clerk at B&N who told me "there are a lot of bad teachers in LA" while helping me buy a teacher book! The LA Times seems to have complete disregard for us. I think the culture here really doesn't value education. Carls Jr. is a western chain. This ad just seems to echo an overall disregard for education. In NJ the teachers' union is super strong and teachers are generally well respected members of the community. I have to think this ad would have been protested.
To date, there's only been a formal protest from teachers in Kentucky.
We're still waiting to hear from CTA, not to mention the NEA.
Unfortunately, this isn't just a Western chain--Carl's Jr. is merely the Western name for what's called Hardee's in the East, and Hardee's is also using the campaign.
Since the lyrics in this ad are a white-boy's play on Sir Mix-A-Lot's rap about the more ample female form, there are less diverse states where the ad's racial overtones would be even more cloying.
I will start my own protest. I am making and distributing copies of this letter that I wrote in the parking lots, laundry mats, and any where else I can put them. I will email it to everyone I know. I have had it with this company. Please do the same if you can.
Please do not go to Carl's Jr. Restaurants.
This company has degraded women with one sexually offensive commercial after another. Not only do they have no respect for us, our families, or our homes but they are targeting our children with sexually degrading, indecent, and violent advertising.
Why would any decent person work for this company? Do you want someone with no ethical standards preparing food for you and your family?
Also, their advertising makes men all look like unethical cheaters and liars. The last commercial depicts a young man with his date at the restaurant. He ogles another woman (who is very poorly dressed and dances seductively), then the announcer says for him to come there with the guys, that way he can act like a jerk and lie to his girlfriend about it. What does this say about men?
What message does this send to young men and women?
My family was watching the early evening news when the current Carl's Jr. add was aired. We are very angry that any company or television broadcast would bring this filth into our home. Yes, we did turn off the television as soon as possible but the add played long enough before we could turn it off to upset and offend us. We can't watch the news any more? Does any company have the right to broadcast indecent material into our homes?
This add depicts a teacher that is basically doing a clothed "strip" act while the boys in her class do a rap song about her "flat buns". The camera focuses on her rear end often and also on her as she does her act on top of her desk for the boys in her classroom. The behavior of the boys doing the rap song is degrading and gang oriented to include wearing brass knuckles. The boys also draw her nude on the blackboard. This is the way to sell a hamburger?
This add encourages young people to totally disrespect women and their teachers. It also encourages violence and disrespectful behavior in the classroom. Why would any company encourage this after so many children have been hurt at school? Don't the teachers have enough trouble controlling the classroom while trying to educate our children?
If you sit in your living room and watch this or you support this business what kind of message are you sending to your children, to this company, or to the school system?
Please do not go to Carl's Jr. and please let the television networks know that they have no right to broadcast indecent material into our homes.
It is not fair to blame to workers of Carl's Jr. They do have moral and ethical standards and have no control over how their employers wish to advertise. It is an unfair swipe at the working class to even suggest that all employees at Carl's are morally bankrupt. I agree that the advertising is indecent but I do not agree with the parts of your letter that you are distributing that take unfair swipes at the people making minimum wage just to make a living. Please consider editing it.
They can work for other companies that don't do that. If they want to be assocaited with a company that produces smut then that is their choice. I would quit.
And, the company that created all of these smutty commercials for Carl's Jr. is Mendelsohn Zien advertising. They list some of their other satisfied customers on their web site http://www.mzad.com/main.html .
I can't believe a company like Dole would support such trash, I will not buy their products either.
you act as if its so easy to find another job when many of them are working more than one job! i agree completely with you about the smutty advertising but i cannot agree that you will blame the minimum wage employees when many of them are working there just to scrape by! you should show at least a little bit of sympathy for their situations; they are not morally depraved individuals. many are trying to feed families. IT IS NOT EASY FINDING A JOB: EVEN IN THE LOWEST SECTORS OF JOBS. Quitting is rarely ever an option.
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