Obnoxious Fast-Food Ad of the Week: Hardee's

Last time, it was Burger King (BKC) explicitly referring to oral sex in a print ad in Singapore. Now it's Hardee's getting people to repeatedly say "A-Holes" in a TV spot for its Biscuit Holes, which are some kind of awful fried, greasy dough-and-sugar things. The ad agency responsble is Mendelsohn Zien. The ad shows people in the street participating in a taste test, where they are asked to choose between the "A-Holes" and the "B-Holes." Get it?

Hardee's has also created a Web site (built entirely on Flash, of course, so it takes forever to load and is nearly unusable), Name Our Holes, where a video shows purportedly "real" people suggesting names for the product. "Bisticles," one man suggests. A woman suggests "Creamy Balls." The people at Hardee's do know they're selling food, right?

CKE Restaurants, owner of both Hardee's and Carl's Jr. (which has its own set of puerile ads, also by Mendelsohn Zien) saw same-store sales fall by 5.2 percent in the four weeks ending June 15. In its first fiscal quarter, profits fell 13 percent. In September, its stock was trading at $13.96. Tuesday morning, it was trading at $8.78.