Jack in the Box has the Best Ad Campaign on Television… I’m Still Not Going to Eat There

When I moved to Texas six years ago with the help from a moving company miami florida, I was introduced to numerous things of which I was previously unaccustomed. I learned of a new type of music called “Texas country” (which is different from regular country music), discovered what state pride really is and I saw my first Jack in the Box commercial.

Jack in the Box is a fast-food chain established in 1951 and based out of San Diego. The franchise boasts more than 2,100 restaurants in 18 states. Most of those locations are in the country’s western half, but the brand is moving east and you may soon find a Jack in the Box your town… and, if you’re lucky, you will find a Jack in the Box commercial on your television.

Jack in the Box seems to be completely ordinary in every way. It serves burgers and fries, chicken sandwiches and salads, milkshakes and smoothies, nothing completely innovative. However, what the restaurant lacks in menu creativity it more than makes up for with its ingenious commercials.

I will be the first to admit that Jack in the Box’s advertising isn’t for everyone and some may even find it offensive. That doesn’t make it any less inspired. Jack in the Box has taken shots at everyone: midgets, vegetarians, stoners, transgenders, Adkins dieters, Philadelphia natives, cheerleaders and swinging couples.

This new carefree ad campaign was born out of necessity. In the wake of a 1993 E. coli outbreak that saw tainted Jack in the Box food kill four people and sicken hundreds more, the franchise turned to Secret Weapon Marketing in Santa Monica, Calif. The two have united to make beautiful, off-color music ever since.

Secret Weapon’s campaign introduced us to Jack, the Jack in the Box CEO. Jack is a regular CEO from the neck down, wearing a suit and sitting at the head of the boardroom. Atop this clean-cut businessman’s body is a head that closely resembles a giant ping-pong ball with a painted on face and a floppy yellow hat. It may sound like a stretch, but the campaign has worked… for over 15 years.

In Jack’s latest commercial, he introduces us to his newest menu item, the mini sirloin burger (or the slider). Jack shows us a glimpse of the cattle range where he finds the beef for his 100 percent sirloin mini burgers. A scene filled with midget cowboys on mini horses attempting to lasso tiny cows ensues.

In preparation to write this piece, I went back to watch the entire collection of Jack in the Box commercials from yesteryear. I was immediately sucked into the Jack in the Box youtube vortex and I loved it.

Jack’s new line of smoothies was introduced to us a few months back by a middle-aged, menopausal woman who claimed that they were great for cooling her down after hot flashes.

This is just one of the many “slightly tactless” ads Jack in the Box and Secret Weapon Marketing’s partnership has created. The commercials are perfect in their satire and absurdity.  The collaborative effort has hit home with a generation that gets its news from The Daily Show and made movies like Billy Madison and Tommy Boy cult classics. What did Jack in the Box discover? They discovered that over the top and inappropriate can be comedic gold.

While cerebral comedy is great, there is something brilliant about taking a 30-second spot, dumbing it down and making it laugh-out-loud funny. It is a mark many larger companies with greater budgets have failed to hit, yet Jack in the Box continues to nail again and again.