Rate the Ad: Burger King: SpongeBob

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Last week on Rate the Ad, we saw Padma Lakshmi get hot and steamy over Western bacon burgers. For Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, the Top Chef host and ex-model enthusiastically devours an oversize sandwich, complete with excessive cleavage, licking and references to being naughty. We wanted to know if you were enticed, disgusted or downright embarrassed for the established foodie turned sexpot.

Amid the occasional "I need a burger," most in Rate the Adland were unimpressed with both Padma and the creatives. Commenter "jreigelman" says, "Very disappointed when I saw this ad. Even understanding the tone of the Hardee's campaign, it just isn't a good fit--especially for Padma. It definitely degrades her image, and it even seems a little off base from Hardee's. This one misses the mark for me."

Padma's reputation aside, "DAFuller" adds: "I don't believe it. I don't believe the lady, dressed as she is, would be doing what she's doing. I don't believe she cares about the bacon. And I think the thing is just a big cliche. So no, I'm not enticed, No, I'm not disgusted. I'm wishing for better creative."

This week, we'll stay in Burger Land to watch the Burger King bust a move in a veritable mash-up of memes, eras and age groups. In a faux music video, the Burger King rewrites Sir Mix-a-Lot's 1993 classic "Baby Got Back" into a celebration of square butts, all to promote the fast food chain's $0.99 SpongeBob SquarePants happy meal. After all, the King likes square butts and cannot lie, Squid and Sea Star can't deny. The spot from Crispin Porter + Bogusky finds the dancing King stopping to measure the fly girls' square bottoms and a cameo by Sir Mix-a-Lot himself. Is this a smart way to sell plastic toys and fast food to kids? Do early '90s rap songs mean anything to them? Even if they like the song, is it too sexually explicit for the age group? Do you--and those kids' parents--love the song enough to not care? Should we expect a rash of booty-shaking children stuffing their pants with phone books? With childhood obesity on the rise, how do you feel about using SpongeBob to sell hamburgers? Share your thoughts, below.
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