{"id":9762,"date":"2017-10-09T12:45:15","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T20:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/10\/09\/news-3535\/"},"modified":"2017-10-09T12:45:15","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T20:45:15","slug":"news-3535","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/10\/09\/news-3535\/","title":{"rendered":"Carl&#8217;s Jr. Begging Amazon to Buy It Embodies the Pain of Late Capitalism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/articles\/59dbd58de8dab930370d8114\/lede\/1507580020933-shutterstock_634308593.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Credit to Author: Louise Matsakis| Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2017 20:23:12 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Carl&#8217;s Jr., the fast food chain <a href=\"http:\/\/www.adweek.com\/brand-marketing\/outgoing-carls-jr-ceo-says-sexy-ads-no-longer-have-as-much-of-an-impact\/\" target=\"_blank\">once known<\/a> for its ads featuring scantily-clad women, really wants to be bought out by Amazon. In a series of often caps-locked tweets Monday, whoever is behind the fast food chain&#8217;s social media presence made a very desperate case for Amazon executives to purchase the company, which is owned by CKE Restaurants. <\/p>\n<div style=\"max-width: 550px;\" data-iframely-id=\"XvuOnPw\" class=\"article__embed article__embed--iframely\">\n<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" data-iframely-smart-iframe=\"true\"><iframe  src= width=\"100%\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" ><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>For the last twelve hours of so, Carl&#8217;s Jr. has been publicly sharing what are supposed to be &#8220;business ideas&#8221; with the tech company, like a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CarlsJr\/status\/917404287801495552\" target=\"_blank\">combination deal<\/a> that includes a book from Amazon and meal from the fast food joint, and a <a href=\"https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/4xan9j\/all-amazon-dash-buttons-ranked\">Dash Button<\/a> that delivers <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CarlsJr\/status\/917298517080604672\" target=\"_blank\">chicken tenders<\/a>. The ideas come each hour, and will continue until Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Carl&#8217;s Jr. only appears to be running the Amazon campaign on its Twitter page, and not its far more popular <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/carlsjr\/\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> page. While the concepts are clearly jokes, the bid to get bought out isn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<div style=\"max-width: 550px;\" data-iframely-id=\"6XcQKAf\" class=\"article__embed article__embed--iframely\">\n<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" data-iframely-smart-iframe=\"true\"><iframe  src= width=\"100%\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" ><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"max-width: 550px;\" data-iframely-id=\"9PNu6Jl\" class=\"article__embed article__embed--iframely\">\n<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" data-iframely-smart-iframe=\"true\"><iframe  src= width=\"100%\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" ><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;This is about generating a conversation about a partnership,&#8221; Jeff Jenkins, the chief marketing officer of both Carl&#8217;s Jr. and its sister Hardee&#8217;s told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/2017\/10\/09\/hey-amazon-carls-jr-has-some-billion-dollar-tweets-you\/729595001\/\" target=\"_blank\"><i> USA Today<\/i><\/a>. &#8220;The tweets are obviously a start to try and see where the dialogue goes.&#8221; Neither Carl&#8217;s Jr. nor Amazon immediately returned a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Fast food executives are far from the only people trying to start a dialogue with Amazon right now. Last month, the tech behemoth announced it was looking to build a second headquarters outside Seattle, and began soliciting proposals from cities who wanted to be chosen. Over 100 municipalities <a href=\"https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/43aw8q\/cities-are-competing-to-give-amazon-the-mother-of-all-civic-giveaways\">rushed<\/a> to prove why they should be picked. <\/p>\n<p>The Carl&#8217;s Jr. campaign reminded me of the scripted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7TG_Ror5LRE\" target=\"_blank\">video<\/a> Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington DC, made explaining why her city should be chosen. The campaign was also reminiscent of the <a href=\"http:\/\/spectrumlocalnews.com\/tx\/austin\/news\/2017\/09\/21\/tucson-s-giant-cactus-gift-rejected-by-amazon-in-bid-for-hq\" target=\"_blank\">gigantic cactus<\/a> Tucson sent to lure the company. All three gestures demonstrate the extent to which we are willing to court technology corporations in the US.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not hard to understand why attention from Amazon might be alluring for a company or city. The e-commerce company is worth <a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2017\/04\/04\/investing\/amazon-stock-900-alltime-high\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">over<\/a> $400 billion, and is often regarded as efficient and futuristic. <\/p>\n<p>Still, these outward displays of affection toward Amazon and the desire to reap the benefits of its business practices feel weird. It appears as though Carl&#8217;s Jr. and these cities hope a tech star can solve their problems for them. If your french fry promotion isn&#8217;t working out, why not see if fully-optimized Amazon could come up with something better? Can&#8217;t figure out how to bring jobs to your city? Throw some subsidies at Amazon and convince it to move there.<\/p>\n<p>Carl&#8217;s Jr. isn&#8217;t short on problems right now. In January, its workers, along with those of other restaurants owned by CKE Restaurants, <a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2017\/01\/11\/news\/economy\/carls-junior-hardees-puzder-protest\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">protested<\/a> President Trump&#8217;s then-rumored choice for labor secretary: their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/andy-puzder-replaced-as-ceo-of-cke-2017-3\" target=\"_blank\">former<\/a> CEO, Andy Puzder. <\/p>\n<p>The workers protested poor working conditions, low pay, and the CEO&#8217;s $4.4 million annual salary. Puzder was paid more in a day than his minimum-wage workers earn in a year, they argued. Carl&#8217;s Jr. was later slammed with a $1.45 million fine in June for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2017\/06\/27\/carls-jr-slapped-with-1-point-45-million-fine-for-failing-to-pay-minimum-wage-in-l-a.html\" target=\"_blank\">failing<\/a> to pay its workers the minimum wage in Los Angeles, California.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not clear what exactly Carl&#8217;s Jr. wants from Amazon, or if it would necessarily accept a buyout offer were it to come. Regardless, the campaign says something about the optimism and hope we still associate with major tech corporations, even as they continue to <a href=\"https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/7xpgvx\/amazons-is-trying-to-control-the-underlying-infrastructure-of-our-economy\">disappoint<\/a> us.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/wjx9jm\/carls-jr-amazon-buying-fast-food\" target=\"bwo\" >https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/articles\/59dbd58de8dab930370d8114\/lede\/1507580020933-shutterstock_634308593.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Credit to Author: Louise Matsakis| Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2017 20:23:12 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a series of tweets, the fast-food chain tried to convince a tech giant that a buyout is a smart investment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[10643,13328,10378],"tags":[5588,15602,9041,454],"class_list":["post-9762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-independent","category-motherboard","category-security","tag-amazon","tag-carls-jr","tag-fight-for-15","tag-twitter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9762\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}