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Last year I wrote an open letter to BYU athletics about their affiliation with the slimy Carl's Jr. franchise. Later I wrote a followup noting that, all claims to the contrary, some local franchise profits do (of course) get funneled to corporate advertising.
Carl's Jr. doesn't even try to be subtle in its objectification of women and everyone seemed to understand this except the people at BYU collecting the cash. As Keith Berry commented on an AdWeek article about the latest sleazy commercial:
Wouldn't it be better to scrap all the masturbatory innuendo, and just simply have a guy furiously pleasuring himself as she walked by? Sure, it lacks all the subtlety and artistic prowess of a typical Carl's Jr. spot, but a little more on brand, no?
“On brand” is right. And the BYU partnership with such branding created more than a little cognitive dissonance. I sent the letter to every person in BYU Athletics, the BYU Corporate Partnership Staff, BYU administration…anyone for whom I could get contact information. I did not receive a single response from anyone, in any capacity, in any department.
Yesterday, however, I received some very good news. The 2015 BYU football seaon tickets do not feature Carl's Jr. and no hint of CJ can be found anywhere in the brochure!
To all those who spoke up and to all those who took action, thank you!
Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.
Fantastic! This is a victory for sure!
Great news! Thanks for speaking up about this.
Thank goodness! I refuse to patronize that business and I turn the channel when their adds come on. I am not an “old lady prude” but someone who is living life. Sex can be a very wonderful PART of life, not the be all/end all. I like how Keith Berry honestly put it. This company has no place on anything BYU endorses.
YESSS! Go you, Alison!
Thanks, everyone. I want to be clear that I was not the only person who spoke out about this issue. The original article links to a couple of others. However it happened, I’m very happy about the outcome.
Now maybe we can get the BYU Alumni Association to stop partnering with Planned Parenthood contributor Liberty Mutual!
I’m glad you mentioned that Liberty Mutual is contributing to Planned Parenthood. We were just about to take out a life insurance policy with LM and will be taking our business elsewhere!
Ugh. We have all our auto and homeowners policies through Liberty Mutual, through the BYU Alumni Association. They have been so dishonest about their association and, in fact, in spite of hundreds of requests from various customers, have refused to publicly acknowledge the truth about this. (They defer to private phone calls, will put nothing in writing.)
Post is coming about that, too. I’m replacing my policies with a company that doesn’t support PP.
I also e-mailed and have been doing so since last season! YES!!! I am so excited to hear this great news!!!!
Thank you for your efforts! Together many people got this done!