• USA Today, Wednesday, August 5, 2009 10:32 AM

Franchisees are pushing back against risqué ads produced for Burger King and Hardee's, Theresa Howard reports. As Ron Paul, president of restaurant and consulting firm Technomic points out: "This is hardly the time you want to alienate any potential customer."

Recent ads for Hardee's feature a "marketing research" person who asks people to name a new breakfast product, Biscuit Holes. In one of them, the researcher asks people whether they prefer Product A or Product B, and people answer "A Hole" or "B Hole." Hardee's biggest franchisee, Boddie-Noell Enterprises, said it won't run the execution in its markets and has asked Hardee's parent, CKE Restaurants, to pull it altogether.

Burger King also toned down some advertising in response to franchisee pressure. "Every move gets put under a microscope when people are feeling anxiety and stress," says Russ Klein, Burger King's president for global marketing.

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