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March 27, 2008

Cheesy Beefy Melty TV Marketing

For months now, I’ve been laughing at Taco Bell‘s “Cheesy Beefy Melt” commercials.

You know, the ones that are set to Modern English‘s 80s hit, Melt With You (one of my favorite songs from my youth, by the way):

“Get seasoned beef and melty… melty… and even more glorious melty cheese…”

Okay, I still like the song, and I loooove cheese, but come on! How silly can you get? What kind of marketing genius thought “Cheesy Beefy Melt” was an intelligent product name, and that goofy commercials of people with cheese hanging out of their mouths would make people want to buy these melts?

Well, apparently rival McDonald’s thought it was a GREAT idea, because I just saw a commercial for their new “Beefy Cheesy Double Cheeseburger” (like a double cheeseburger shouldn’t be beefy and cheesy without having to call it that!).

And as they say, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery… right?

Uhhh… yeah!

At least these commercials make me laugh every time I see them. I just can’t get over how silly it is to call a product “Cheesy Beefy” or “Beefy Cheesy” or refer to the quality of being “melty”.

But what I really wonder is, is this an innocent silliness? Or is there a sexual overtone?

Cheesecake has long referred to photos of scantily clad women posing seductively, and beefcake refers to scantily clad men.

Cheesy can mean tacky, but usually in reference to those same scantily clad women (like calling a bikini pageant cheesy), and beefy, of course, means… yes, in reference to those men in drawers.

Now when you’ve got melty cheesy beefy things… well, that just takes on a whole new level of subliminal programming.

So silly or sexy? What is the intent?

I guess there’s no reason something can’t be silly AND sexy… so that’s what I’m going to assume they’re trying to achieve.

As to whether I’m enticed to actually eat a “Cheesy Beefy Melt” from Taco Bell or a “Beefy Cheesy Burger” from McDonald’s… well, I’ll have to get back to you on that one.

Keep Unwrapping the Mysteries of Life!

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About the Author:

Heather Vale Goss is a writer, journalist and interviewer known as The Unwrapper™. Since 1993, she has worked in all media: TV, radio, print and online. She runs the online publishing company LWL (Life Without Limits) Media Inc., The Life Improvement Company™, with her husband, Barry Goss.

She also freelances for top websites and marketers, and teaches others how to conduct high-quality, profitable interviews through her Interviewing Unwrapped home-study package. You can connect with her on her official Facebook page or by following her on Twitter.