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October 30, 2003 Issue

Legendary Swinger Has New Career as Burger Pitchman

Hugh Heffner, the aging founder of Playboy Enterprises Inc., is a bona-fide legend who helped change attitudes toward sex in 1960s America with his racy magazine, his opulent mansion, and his seemingly endless supply of scantily clad Playboy bunnies at his side. Few people would have predicted that four decades later, at the ripe age of 77, "Hef" would make a career comeback as a mainstream advertising pitchman.

Next week, Mr. Hefner is expected to start hawking hamburgers for Carl's Jr., in an ad campaign for the chain created by Los Angeles agency Mendelsohn/Zien. He also is slated for a big role in a print campaign this spring from Ecko Unlimited, an urban New York clothier. Over the summer, he appeared in a promotional spot for the "X Games" on Walt Disney's ESPN cable channel. he was spotlighted recently in a print ad for Diageo PLC's Tanquaray gin, which called him "distinctive" and also in an animated Web ad for Brown-Forman Corp.'s Jack Daniel's. Advertisers crave the attention of young consumers. So why put an aging hipster front and center in their ad campaigns? "I don't seek these out. They are brought to me," says Mr. Heffner. He adds that he is willing to consider anything put before him.

Brand image experts say Mr. Hefner exudes a certain personal charm that crosses generations, a kind of tongue-in-cheek hip sensibility. Although to some Mr. Hefner still conjures up cocktails and smoky nightclubs, bunny costumes and sexual freedom, some marketing consultants suggest time has worn down his racier edges. The bottom line: 20-something consumers just think Mr. Hefner is a fun dude. "He has become the gentle grandpa that has just a little bit of a wild side," says David Morrison of TWENTYSOMETHING Inc., a Philadelphia-based youth-marketing consultancy. The public tends to see icons from earlier times as a means of escape from the harsh economic realities of the present, Mr. Morrison adds. Mr Heffner "has none of the controversy of the past and none of the pressure of the present."

Mr. Heffner's emergence coincides with Madison Avenue's growing use of celebrities to push products with which they have little relationship. Yum Brands Inc. KFC tapped comic actor Jason Alexander for a high-profile ad campaign that ultimately did little for the chicken chain's overall sales. KFC eventually changed agencies and now uses plain folks in its commercials. Earlier this year, DaimlerChrysler AG placed singer Celine Dion in ads for the Chrysler Pacifica, sparking complaints from some dealers who felt Ms. Dion's presence didn't help sell cars. BBDO, one of Chrysler's ad agencies, declines to reveal the car marker's marketing plans for 2004 but says Ms. Dion "remains a marketing partner."

Mr. Hefner says he believes his brand of partying is simply more in sync with today's society. "The magazine and the brand are much more mainstream today," he says. "The world has kind of caught up to us, I think."

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Article also featured in: The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)