Daily Egyptian Reporter 13

Several times within the past two weeks, Jeffery Scott has sat down to relax with some evening television programming only to be appalled by a Hardee’s commercial, which he calls blasphemous.

The commercial is offensive to the people of faith to treat God so lightly, Scott said.

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The advertisement depicts a monk eating a Hardee’s Monster Burger. A beam of light, representing God, tries to take the burger away from the monk.

Sharron Hamilton, director of Public Affairs, spoke on behalf of Hardee’s Corp. and said the company had received other complaints.

We certainly respect their opinion and right to have an opinion about the advertisement, she said. When we did the commercial, we did it to show how big the burger was. We didn’t mean to offend anyone. If we did, we are sorry.

The monk pushes the burger away from the light to keep it for himself. The voice of the light, or God, scolds the monk for trying to keep the burger for himself. Then the monk pushes the plate with the Monster Burger back to the light.

The Monster Burger disappears into the light and then reappears with a big bite missing from the burger on the monk’s plate. Then God speaks again, and says the burger was too big for him to eat.

The commercial is no longer being aired because it was only intended to run for four weeks.

Jon Christensen, a junior in liberal arts from Gibson City and attendee of Abundant Life Ministries, was not offended by the commercial.

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A person who is familiar with the Bible would realize that the commercial does not present Christianity in the proper manner, he said. Because of this, people watching the commercial would realize that it is just humor.

Although Scott did realize the intention of the commercial, he still found it to be unsuitable.

I understand what the commercial was trying to accomplish, he said. They were trying to be humorous. There are some things that are just inappropriate to make light of.

Scott said he is concerned about the influence of the media on society.

The power of the media’s influence is very well documented, he said. If such disrespectful ads aren’t met with such opposition, then we will continue to see more of them.

Hamilton said Hardee’s was aware of the complaints with the advertisement.

We have heard what they have said, she said. This is one in a series of advertisements (for the Monster Burger), and we wanted them to be humorous and creative.