Carl’s Jr. Tries to Go After the Young, and Hungry, Skateboarding Fan

Check out this article that just came out on the NY Times.

I like the fact that Rob Dyrdek agreed on working with Carl’s Jr. as long as the chain would do something positive for the skate industry.

However, I am not sure about M. Puzder’s comments on “There’s a lot of bang for the buck in this stuff […] It’s not as expensive as running an ad to do something with Rob — we contribute to his skate park, and you get a lot of free media from that.” Mr. Puzder said that when “you can’t be the big national brand, you kind of got to be the cool brand for the skateboarders.”

Hum…. what does that mean? A. That we are a cheap industry to utilize as a mean to an end? and B. That by working with Rob, Carl’s Jr. is insured to “be the cool brand for the skateboarders”? Ouch, if I were them, I’d be careful about what I’d say.

~CG