We Put Hardee’s Annoying Ad to the Test

BY OWEN MORRIS

Hardees is running a series of ads in which they serve their hamburgers at a fake high-end restaurant, charge more than double and record the reactions of diners who eat them. The point being that Hardees’ hamburgers are just as good as ones that set you back $15.

It doesn’t take an ad exec to realize that the “marks” in the ads are reacting as much to the restaurants’ swank digs as they are to the burgers themselves. To test whether a normal person could taste the difference between the Hardee’s burger and a more expensive burger, I recruited two people to be my own marks.

They were my triathlete friends Derek and Matilda. I chose them because I know they both love to eat but, because of constant training, never order greasy food from restaurants. Hence, they wouldn’t be able to guess where either burger came from.

To compete with the Hardee’s Prime Rib Burger I chose Houlihan’s specialty Tilamook Burger. I put both in identical boxes and surprised my two friends, who had just gotten back from a jog. They were starving and eager to participate.