Has Carl’s Jr. / Hardee’s convinced you to buy a burger through their continuous use of sexual commercials? No? Well, maybe this ad with poker player Phil Hellmuth will do the trick. In what can only be described as an odd strategic reversal, the burger chain went from smoking ladies rubbing burgers all over their face to … a poker player most people have never heard of or haven’t heard of since the mid-2000s.
Phil Hellmuth’s name was much more widely known back during the poker boom in the early and mid-2000s. Now? Not so much unless you are still following the poker scene.
Let’s assume you do know Hellmuth. When you watch him eat (well, pretend to eat) a burger, does it make you want to run out and buy one? Probably not. Hellmuth’s image has always been a bit greasy, pompous and mostly unlikable.
