Editor, Daily Nexus,

Regarding Shawn Nielsen and Natalie Spritzer’s column “Carl’s Jr. TV Ads Put Sleaze Into the Special Sauce” (Daily Nexus, Nov 12), I appreciate the fact that a couple of lousy punk teenagers think they need to warn me about this brand new monster called sexist advertising. I really do. I also look forward to their upcoming columns “Racism is Bad,” “Rape is Wrong,” “Third World Debt is Unpleasant” and “Murder Should Be Looked Down Upon.” Next time some hippie hands you a flier on the street, you don’t need to go on a windmill-chasing crusade. If you read Hugh Hefner is going to be in a Carl’s Jr. commercial, don’t hop off the logic bus and wonder if condoms will soon be placed in the kiddie meals. That’s hack punditry at its worst.

Hopefully, in time you’ll find things aren’t so black and white. Ten years from now, that Carl’s Jr. ad will end up on some “Wacky TV Commercials” show on ABC during the “Sex Sells” segment, and you’ll wonder what you got so angry about. These are important years – make sure your battles are worth your time. You’re not Abbie Hoffman and this isn’t Vietnam. You can’t always change what you don’t like. Instead of trying to censor what burger ads can or cannot say, do something important with your time.

To help you along in your burgeoning careers as my new personal saviors – hell, without you I’d have never known how much of a fat-assed, sexist, brainless consumer I am – I have a tip for you: Just because something is bad, that doesn’t make it wrong. If that were the case, then alcohol, tobacco and the entire run of the TV series “Suddenly Susan” would be illegal. The fact is, a large number of American men are more likely to pay attention to TV commercials with big, jiggling breasts in them. I’m sorry. Sure, it leaves us with unreasonable expectations for the mechanical bull-riding, burger-eating supermodels in our lives, but such is the price of capitalism.

STEVEN JOHNSON

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