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Padma Lakshmi and Carl’s Jr.: An unholy marriage

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Born in Austin, Matthew left soon thereafter and finally made it back after years of paying his penance wandering the earth. Before coming to Austin360, Matthew co-edited Austinist.com, worked as an advertising copywriter and led tours of the Roman Forum, among other things.

When not busy pounding away on his keyboard, he can be found at book readings, concerts, gelaterias, pizza joints, Barton Springs, movie theaters, the golf course, or home with a book. The M.O. gives readers a little insight into the world of this man without a plan.

The entry titled "Padma Lakshmi and Carl's Jr.: An unholy marriage."

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Home > The M.O. > Archives > 2009 > May > 19 > Entry

By Matthew Odam | Tuesday, May 19, 2009, 01:01 PM

This just in … men love sex and bacon.

Using the word sell-out is so ’90s. Method Man and Redman shill deodorant. Gene Hackman wants you to shop at Lowe’s. Of Montreal pimps Outback Steakhouse. In this day and age, nothing is all that shocking. People need money, and who am I to begrudge them for how they go about getting it? If Robert DeNiro wants to make “Meet the Fockers,” so be it. Hell, I’d do a Hello Kitty commercial if they offered me enough (any) money. But sometimes, certain stars in certain ads just make my head spin, and I’m not talking about Nicolas Cage’s run of ads in Japan.

Last night, while fast forwarding through the commercials of the “24” season finale (anti-climactic as all hell, by the way), I thought I saw the most incongruous vision imaginable: Indian born model/foodie/TV presenter Padma Lakshmi and a Carl’s Jr. burger. I remember Carl’s Jr. from my days at University of Southern California, but did not realize they had gone national. I had to rewind the footage.

Sure enough, there she was. A woman who grew up a vegetarian in India, has written a cookbook (which I’ve used) and by all accounts should be promoting local farmers and delicious, if not always healthy, food, lustily getting after a $6 Carl’s Jr. bacon cheeseburger. (Paris Hilton did an equally scandalous ad for the chain a few years back. But, she has no credibility anyhow.) I’ve interviewed Lakshmi and believe she is a lovely woman with a refined palate, and figured she was doing pretty well financially. I guess I was wrong about the latter. Or maybe you can never do too well financially. I would guess she made about $250,000 for the spot, but I have no earthly idea.

Am I just acting like a naive fool in my shock? I don’t want to condemn Lakshmi for making the choices she makes to support herself, I guess I am just utterly shocked at the bizarre pairing of the woman and the product. At the end of the day, it comes down to whether the ad worked. Well, it did get my attention. But I wouldn’t say it sold me on the burger, although I probably won’t fast-forward through the commercial next time. Mute it? Likely. And who knows, if Lakshmi can stoop from “Top Chef” to Carl’s Jr., maybe she could make the downgrade from Salman Rushdie to an unknown blogger.

Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Television

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By Alexandra

May 19, 2009 2:44 PM | Link to this

Dare to dream, Matthew! Also on the rumour tip, I heard she earned over $100k for this ad.

By john doe

May 19, 2009 4:10 PM | Link to this

I didn’t like Padma before and like her even less after this sellout. Can’t believe she criticizes chefs on the Top Chef show for their cooking and then eats fast food on a commercial. But she’ll apparently do anything for money. And the sexuality in this commercial was so obviously blatant that it was a turn-off.

By jane

May 19, 2009 4:43 PM | Link to this

Everybody eats fast food once in while. Even models. She’s a MODEL. Last I checked, we like our models chock full of sexuality. Or maybe Carl’s Jr. should be the lone company out there NOT hocking their merchandise with lusty tv ads?