Another anti-French ad from Jack-In-The Box

[Isere]

Time to rev up your dialing fingers.

I just saw a Jack-in-The-Box ad for their "fries" which they are proudly NOT calling French. It is the usual anti-French screed which I thought had run its course, but apparently not.

I'm sick of the French bashing and it's time to put it to an end. Is there any ethnic group that is more vilified and with more glee than the French?

Assez!!!!!!!!!

The French are only being given a bad rap because Junior couldn't get them in his "coalition" of the insane. But I don't see national TV ads against the Canadians or the Mexicans or the Germans who also took a pass on Junior's march over the cliff.

Please call Jack-In-The-Box and tell them French bashing is unpalatable and unworthy.

JACK IN THE BOX INC.:
1-800-955-5225

p.s. You will have to wait until Monday. Jack is off for the weekend.

[Skittles]

1. I did call JITB

I told them THE FRENCH WERE RIGHT and they could stuff their fries up their f***ing asses.

[frylock]

2. i've seen the commercial several times..

more times than I care to count, and I get the impression that it's the freedom fry people that they're actually poking fun at, not the French.

[nini]

6. that's what I thought.... they're poking fun at the freedom fries backers

.. at least I don't see it as French bashing to the level it was being done before

[Cha]

10. REally?! Oh now I have to totally change my opinion of

Jacque in zee box! I still wouldn't eat their food.

[Trajan]

25. Damn ....

I miss JITB .... Springfield, MO has none ....

I used to buy two Breakfast Jacks in the morning for $1 per ..... Twas a great bargain ....

[Isere]

12. Gee, I didn't get that.

I thought it was a pretty clear slam at the French.

French-bashing continues on a daily basis with respect to the "French-looking John Kerry." If you "look" French or speak French you are on the watch list of the right wing.

Gawd! I wish someone would think that I look French! One of my favorite quotes from the famous food writer M.F.K. Fisher came when she found herself for the first time in a town in the south of France. In comparing herself to the chic French women she said famously " and there I was... an Anglo-Saxon oaf.."

[frylock]

14. i don't even understand the "he looks french" thing anyway..

I mean, what does that mean exactly? How does one go about looking French?! :shrug:

[Selwynn]

21. I think the same thing; I also think we're doing a lot of freaking out..

...over nothing lately.

[Cha]

3. What a bunch of sick pandering shit...

All that junk food is going to their brain.

[LibraLabSoldier]

4. Eventually,

No matter what the fries are called, a large chunk of chunky Americans are gonna vaporlock and drop dead all over the place. People want to ban guns, but Fast food is ok.....

[DaveSZ]

5. Chevrolet is a French name

Should we boycott Chevys now too?

:eyes:

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

19. So is Cadillac

The car was named after French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and the Cadillac insignia is based on his coat-of-arms.

[Cha]

9. They already are, unfortunately ..and haven't a

clue what's causing it.

[NightTrain]

7. In April 2003, I was compelled to e-mail my many friends in Montreal...

...to apologize for all the French-bashing that was coming out of the U.S. at the time. Thankfully, they all said that while they appreciated my gesture, they also understood that not all Americans were ignorant and hateful.

To quote Mike Malloy: "Have I mentioned tonight how much I hate these people?" :grr:

[Cha]

8. I'm going to Canada over Labor DAy and stay in a hotel

by Nigara Falls and I'm so excited just to be wearing my Kerry/Edwards pin in Canada.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

11. Can their executives spell "BOYCOTT"?

[Zorra]

13. Yes. Boycott the bigots. And they are definitely bigots. n/t

[GoneOffShore]

15. Jack is always off

(did I use my out loud voice for that?)

Anyway, here's a little antidote to all the French bashing.

http://www.infopresse.com/mov.asp?file=20040712_us.mov

It helps if you've got a high speed connection.
(Added on edit)
If you don't speak French, they provide the translation.

[IronLionZion]

28. hahahaha

yep speaking English can kill you, but so can all the hormones, chemicals, hydrogenated oils, etc. that are so prevalent in American diets! And our notorious lack of excercise.

People in other parts of the world can actually eat more than the average American and still be healthier.

[K8-EEE]

16. I Hate Freeper French-Bashing, But I Thought This Was Funny!

I think it's a Freeper send up....they just need to add the W ketchup!

In any event, I really like the JITB commercials as a whole...they're funny.

[DivinBreuvage]

17. Bah! You folks need to read some French history

I'm not throwing a jab at anyone! I'm saying you need to read it because it is interesting and it will make you feel better.

Among other things, the French have survived:

• invasion by a Muslim army
  
• peasant uprisings
  
• gargantuan epidemics on a scale we can't even imagine today
  
• the Albigensian crusade
  
• a century of English occupation and depradations (damn you, Godons!)
  
• bad kings
  
• religious wars
  
• revolutions, restorations, and five republics
  
• a megalomaniacal dictator
  
• Napoleon III (grandson of the dictator and a French George W. Bush)
  
• L'Affaire Dreyfus
  
• three German invasions in less than a century (damn you sales Boches!)
  
• colonial wars and uprisings
  
• Jerry Lewis mania, and Gérard Depardieu's appearance in Green Card
  

I appreciate the intent of the thread, but to worry about the fact that an American fast food commercial is down on the French, is frankly almost insulting.

[GoneOffShore]

18. Click on the link in my post above

and you'll see that they obviously can hold their own.
:toast:

[AgadorSparticus]

20. it is without doubt the french can hold their own.

this is about american pride. we ARE better than this.

[Isere]

22. Mais oui...

Of course the French have survived much worst than the barrage of unpleasantries coming from its US "allies." No doubt la republique will live on in spite of Jack in the Box. After all, a people who eat snails regularly have got to be hardy folk!

I don't worry about the harm to the French, but about the harm to the American soul.
This shallow, low and mean-spirited carping at the culture of another country is simply beyond the pale. It feeds on American jingoism and the worst sort of anti-intellectual no-nothingism. Personally, I am very saddened that it has become acceptable to bash the French in public, on TV, in print.

I have lived in France, have lots of friends there and I'm ashamed.

[DivinBreuvage]

31. I agree with you, but the rot in the national soul is far deeper than this

Too much power is bad for any nation. It makes them arrogant, vicious, and stupid, and only an extraordinary deluge can cleanse the filth away. The French themselves suffered from this phenomenon in the past, as have most European nations who at one time or other found themselves the cock-of-the-walk, including the English, Spanish, Italians, Germans, Russians, and probably even the Dutch. And despite Abu Ghraib and the killing of civilians in Iraq, I'm not sure that America has yet risen quite to the level of atrocity of the Belgians, for heaven's sake, in the Congo (though we probably will before the game is up). I'm not trying to deny or palliate American behavior; I'm simply saying that some nations that are pretty decent now were much worse in the not-so-distant past.

But those nations all got knocked off their mighty pedestal, and they're far better and wiser for it now (well, Russia is still a mess, but at least it's not the aggressive pain throughout the world that it used to be). Our turn is coming, too; the laws of history are inexorable. The America that passes through it will be a humbler, wiser, and better place.

Speaking of cocks of the walk:

[Isere]

32. Excellent points.

It's always good to stop and take the long view. In these times of instant reporting and 30 minute news cycles, it's quite easy to get caught up in the minutiae. Taking a few steps back and putting things into historical perspective is not only wise but it's also better for one's mental health. I need to do it more often!

Re Belgium: a couple of years ago I read a mesmermizing book by Adam Hochschild called "King Leopold's Ghost." It is a chilling but quite readable account of Belgium's ghastly colonization of the Congo.

[HannibalBarca]

29. French Fries

It should also be noted that the French revolution during which they overthrew their corrupt and avaricious monarchy was an inspiration for the 13 or so colonies under British rule to fight for their independence. In fact there is remarkable similarity between the US constitution and the "declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen" which the French national assembly ratified 2 years after the US constitution.
I tried to make this point to someone whose views lets say favour George and Co and he simply said that the French today are cowards and hate us!. I also tried to point out that it is not the American people the French dislike but rather the American administration, a very clear difference but I think he considered that a "nuance" not straight talkin Bush language and so he promptly ignored my point.
I also think Bill O Reilly and his boycott France campaign is quite frankly disturbing and humorous all at the same time. That guy is a real lunatic.

[DivinBreuvage]

30. Your revolutions are reversed: the American inspired the French

The American Revolution began in 1775 and ended formally in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris. The French Revolution didn't start until 1789. That being said, however, it's certainly true that American's revolutionary leaders, like all revolutionaries of the age, owed an immense debt to French liberal thinkers like Montesquieu, Diderot, Voltaire, and Rousseau (who was actually born in Switzerland but moved to France later on).

You made a great point about pro-Bush people. Their mindset is such that they have to identify their leader with their country, just as for devout Nazis Reich and Führer were a single holy organism, integral and indivisible. Anything else is too complex and therefore frightening; furthermore, neither the one nor the other can ever be anything but absolutely pure. To such people it is literally impossible to admit that either Bush or America as a political entity could ever do anything wrong.

[erpowers]

23. I Do Not Think it was meant to be Anti-French

You may be right but I think Jack-In-The-Box is poking fun at all the people who have a problem with the French. The ad has been in Houston for a while now and I always felt he was making fun of the people who do not like the French because they did not support the war. I never thought he was trying to insult the French. I do believe that he explains why he calls his fries natural cut fries and according to him it has nothing to do with the French. Also, if we are talking about the same ad he actually says that he does not have anything against the French. I think the owner of Jack-In-The-Box was just trying to get people to laugh at the foolishiness of all the French bashing.

[PatriotGames]

24. Anybody got link to the commercial or a transcript?

No JITB near me, so no commercials...

[scarface2004]

26. jack off

that pointy nosed smirking melon headed a hole!!

[Jack Rabbit]

27. It sounds like it's time for progressives to take their business elsewhere

Who needs a Bonus Jack anyway?