A few weeks ago, I emailed Carl's to complain about their lascivious, sexualized ads, how disgusting they are, and they sent a response that was rote and very disingenuous, stating that they " try to be creative" and "didn't want to offend anyone." So... they spent millions on R&D, and no one warned them that it would offend people? Puhleeze. Their T&A ads suggest one should treat women as objects. It is the basis of an attitude that culminates in allowing rape and domestic violence.

I know in Hollywood they say even bad publicity is still publicity, but this time it backfired. Classic sociological studies have established repeatedly that once you dehumanize a subgroup, it infers you have the right to do anything you want to them. That's what Hitler did. That's what America and Europe did to Africans to make it okay to be slave owners. That's what Boko Haram does to justify kidnapping two hundred girls, what the Taliban says to justify shooting girls or burning them to death in buildings, what some middle eastern cultures do to make it acceptable to stone women to death, to make it acceptable to set women on fire in South America for "honor," to practice female infanticide in China and India, and to mutilate female genitals In Africa. There are at least a million lost girls in this country being pimped: prostitution is not a victimless crime. It is the same predatory attitude that ads like Carl's Jr. fosters. Yet, once again, they blame the women, not the johns. It's why women in America only get 73 cents on the dollar for the same jobs men do.

Read the statistics on how many women and girls are raped each day in America, how many times per hour men beat women, and those are just the ones who report it, because they know that our culture turns a calloused, blind eye to it and will often victimize her a second time. It's about power and aggression, not sex. Carl's' ads have a predatory, permissive attitude towards psychological violence. There is no humor, no intelligence, no tenderness, no family values in the ads. They will never win any international awards. They lack imagination. They sink to the basest, lowest common denominator, and please don't tell me that they had no idea that it would raise a furor. They won't even talk to you if you try to complain by phone: you get voicemail.

I submit that businesses have an ethical obligation to benefit the society that finances their company, to at least do no harm if not make it a better place. I worked in Rape Crisis too long to let these ads slide by. The people that watch them are absorbing the attitude that it's okay to be sexual predators, to treat women as sexual objects. The girls are learning it's what you look like that matters, not content, and to expect less because of their gender. It fosters low self esteem. It harms the boys and girls who watch it. This is how it insidiously starts. I have not bought food at Carl's since they started this campaign, and would suggest you boycott them, too. If they have no social conscience and only worship money, then we need to hit them in their wallet. There is a difference between freedom of speech, and abuse of the privilege. Just because they can do it, doesn't mean they are entitled to.