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Richard Alcala
Professor Beadle
English 115
October 31, 2016
The Male Gaze
Carls Jr. is a very well know and establish burger joint with their; burgers, shakes and,
misleading commercials. One cant forget their gorgeous models that they hire to unveil their
new burgers, but if one considers this to be this to be the only reason people watch their
commercials there not going to go buy a burger. Today many companies are doing the same thing
to get profits, this tactic is called the Male gaze. The Male Gaze is defined as sexualization
and objectification of women for male pleasure. In the ad, Carls Jr is responsible for
objectifying and sexualization of women for profit. Male dominance has become a huge problem
in the world, now where media is so influential, especially in young women, who feel that if
society doesnt accept them, and theyre not fit to make it to the top, if they dont show a little bit
of skin.
The Carls Jr commercial has a model for every individual commercial. This commercial
that we will be looking at, is of Charlotte McKinney. It takes place in farmers market, with a
decent number of people. What makes this negative is that she is dressed in a very revealing
outfit, that consist of white booty shorts and a bra that gives the sense that its too small for her.
Carls Jr. has done this before showing that, there goals are to grab the attentions of men, using
color and lust. According to Geena Davis a professional in media explains that there is also an
economic argument- research shows that films with more women and girls make more money,
and less likely to fail (Davis). If theres any form of advertising that involves women. Viewing
it from an economic perspective it is going to make more money than having man or just the

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item represent a company. This explains why Carls Jr is using a method that judge women on
their appearance to gain profit.
This ad has many problems, the first one being that the color choice of clothing and the
time of day Carls Jr. chose to film; There are three visible men all wearing dark colors, the ad
takes place in a farmers market that is covered by shade, causing the men to blend into the
surroundings, so that all the attention goes to McKinneys white outfit that shes wearing. The
second issue is that they all have different expressions of lust. The one closest to her, gives the
sense that he is amazed with her beauty, the next man that we have has a jaw dropping
expression, and for last we have this man in the back smiling, showing that he likes what he sees.
Third problem that is presented, there are women in the background, with their backs turned to
McKinney while shopping. They are completely ignored by the other men because theyre not
dressed the same as her or not as beautiful as McKinney. This is an example of degrading
women, to sell their body and only being able to achieve if they do what men tell them to do. In
the article Night to His Day: The Social Construction of gender by Judith Lorber, she states
that In Western societies, women augment their breast size with silicone and reconstruct their
faces with cosmetic surgery to conform to cultural ideals of feminine beauty. (Lorber pg. 24)
This shows that if women want to be noticed like McKinney, they must change their appearance,
so they wont be an extra. This would also make women feel uneasy with their body and at
times spend thousands of dollars to gain attention, by achieving that perfect body.
The biggest issues that there is the over sexualization in the ad, just by looking at the ad.
The ad proves it self, McKinney is a beautiful model, but what about the burger? Isnt this a
Carls Jr. commercial, and whats with that lust filled faces that the men in the advertisement
make, is the burger that mouthwatering and juicy or is it McKinney. What s with one of the

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males carrying so much bread, why so much extra stuff. Its just a burger and it is. Many
companies do the same thing; another great example is the Suit Supply company. Madeline
Gallegos reported on this photo shoot that the Suit Supply company did for the spring and
summer 2014 line up. When visitors approach the suit supply site they are greeted by a
homepage filled with male models dressed in suits, sports jackets, blazers and sweaters. Even
though Suit Supply as main page seems harmless enough (Gallegos). However, they also offer a
preview of their 2014 spring and summer line up, with just a simple click. the page prompts the
viewer with a simple question- asking if they would prefer to view the censored or the
uncensored version of the campaign (Gallegos). This shows that even merchandise just its self
isnt enough to sell anymore, instead sex is the key to selling. Thats exactly what Carls Jr.
achieved during their advertisement. This is an example of male dominance; it has portrayed
women in senseless manner of sexualization and objectification, these women are ones mothers,
daughters, sisters, and dear friends. Only because we see a beautiful women eating a burger
were not going to buy it, just as the same with clothing. McKinney may have been wearing
clothes that catch the attention of people from all ages and gender. This advertisement has shown
that downgrading women to objects and or selling your body is the only way to achieve in life. It
affects children all of ages, because little girls are going to think thats how they must look like
when they grow up and boys are going to think that all women should behave and dress this way
when they reach adult hood.
This Carls Jr. ad, involves a lot of sexualization, but on the other hand, Victoria Secret a
clothing company for women, released a new line of lingerie in 2014. Victoria Secret titled it,
The Perfect Body. Women accepted Victoria Secret as a well respectful place to shop for
undergarments and other products made for women. When Victoria Secret released The perfect

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body, it made many women feel uneasy. Women of course would like to buy this line of
lingerie, but there are some women that dont fit the perfect body image that Victoria Secret
tries so hard to teach young women. This very ad made people angry, because many people dont
fit in this unreal thin unhealthy body. This shows that even clothing made for women and
advertisement aimed at women, made them feel negative and showed that advertisement has
gone too far. Stated by Ruth Hubbard in Rethinking Womens Biology: there is more pressure
on women to look right, and what is right changes frequently and sometimes quite
drastically Women deliberately eat less than they need for healthy growth and development
(Hubbard pp. 48-49). The same with the Carls Jr. ad, many women feel negative about their
image seeing that they dont fit this perfect body and that if they even try to eat Carls Jr.s new
burger or anything else in that matter, they will worry that they wont be able to conform to
societys norms by not keeping their image. One of the consequences that come from todays
media such as the Carls Jr and Victoria Secret ad is that, it affects many young women that are
still developing their bodys. Many of these young women begin to starve themselves to reach
the ideal weight and sometimes end up going through depression and affecting others as well.
The worst thing to come is that young women, that feel that they have failed would sometimes
commit suicide. This shows no matter how one views the Carls Jr ad to gain attention for
possible profits, one must see the other side and see what type of damage it does to the youth.
The Male gaze is used in advertisement to gain attention, for profit gains and portray
women in a negative, objectified, and sexualized view. Even if the ad was for food or clothes,
there will always be a negative outcome, if women arent treated with the respect they deserve. If
one may ask, if your mother, sister, or even a close friend was in the same place as Charlotte
McKinney, would you buy a burger from Carls Jr?

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Works Cited
Davis, Geena "Opinion: Blacking Out Gender Bias on Screen." Women's Feature Service, New
Delhi, 2015, http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.csun.edu/docview/1685694506?
accountid=7285&rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo. Accessed 3 November
2016
Gallegos, Madeline "Censored or Uncensored: Marketing Sexism." UWIRE Text, 30 July 2014,
p. 1. Expanded Academic ASAP,
http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy.csun.edu/ps/i.do?&id=GALE|
A376503741&v=2.1&u=csunorthridge&it=r&p=EAIM&sw=w&authCount=1#
Accessed 3 Nov. 2016
Hubbard, Ruth Rethinking Womens Biology Composing Gender, edited by Rachael Groner
and John F OHara, Bedford, St Martin, 2014, pp. 48-49
Lorber, Judith Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender Composing Gender,
edited by Rachael Groner and John F OHara, Bedford, St. Martin, 2014, pg. 24
Carls Jr super bowl commercial https://s1.dmcdn.net/IyYbQ.jpg
Victorias Secret The Perfect Body Advertisement
http://a.abcnews.com/images/Lifestyle/ht_victorias_secret_kb_141029_16x9_992
.jpg