New Zealand censors have been known to ban fast food advertisements in the past, made no exception for Carl's Jr.'s Paris Hilton one, which had the heiress (turned actress, singer and recently DJ) sharing a burger in a bikini along an equally scantly clad model on top of a car.
Carl's Jr.'s Paris Hilton ad features her along with swimsuit model Hannah Ferguson, and it was deemed offensive by advertisement authorities in the Pacific island. It features Ferguson washing a dirty car in a bikini and eating the new burger by the food chain, until finally Paris Hilton makes an appearance (also wearing a bikini) and tells her "you missed a spot", then eating a jalapeno.
The Carl's Jr. Paris Hilton advert was banned in the country's Commercial Approvals Bureau (CAB), which is the institution that all ads have to go through before they are approved to be aired in New Zealand television. Local newspaper New Zealand Herald, which called the Carl's Jr. Paris Hilton ad "pointlessly raunchy" in its article reporting the ban, talked to the general manager of the CAB, Rob Hoar, who said: "I don't think they ever thought we would approve it, I just think they wanted to be able to put out a press release."
It is hardly shocking that Carl's Jr.'s Paris Hilton ad didn't see the light in New Zealand, and the country's advertising censors have had problems with food chains before, like the banning of a Burger King ad featuring women on bikinis riding horses. Just last year, the CAB had an issue with Carl's Jr., as the fast food chain released a similarly themed ad - where two models only wearing bikini tops and small shorts were seen grilling and eating burgers - and the institution said that the advert had used sex to sell a completely unrelated product.
However, Paris Hilton had no issue with the ban, joking on Twitter that the ad was "so hot, it's been banned from TV in New Zealand."
