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Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s have hit hit jackpot this time around with their commercial featuring Kate Upton eating a new “Southwest Patty Melt.” Media coverage and online views of the commercials and other related content have generated over a half a billion impressions worldwide, and that figure continues to grow.

“For two moderate-sized, regional fast-food chains, Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s have established a pretty amazing track record over the years of working with celebrities who are just hitting their pop culture zeniths when they appear in our advertising, and some would even go so far as to say that our ads helped propel them there,” said Brad Haley, chief marketing officer for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. “But, our timing with Kate Upton, unquestionably, tops them all. From Paris Hilton to Kim Kardashian, our ads often achieve iconic status thanks to the huge public interest in our stars as well as the way we portray them on film. With Kate, we knew she was a hot young model and was, after all, Rookie of the Year in last year’s swimsuit issue, but we didn’t know that she would be on the cover this year when we filmed her. Her meteoric rise, once the cover of SI was announced, has made everything she touches something that our target of ‘young, hungry guys’ has to get their hands on, including the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s Southwest Patty Melt she so clearly enjoys in the commercial.”

Despite a petition that was signed by 399 prudes people, both brands saw increase traffic and favorability in age groups such as the extremely sought after 19-35 year old male catagory. It also included this:

-More than 120,000 new Facebook fans for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s since the ad launched
-104 percent increase in site visits over the previous week to Hardees.com brand site after the :60 Director’s cut video was posted
-83 percent increase in visits over the previous week to Carlsjr.com brand site after the :60 Director’s cut video was posted
-More than 5,000 tweets have mentioned the product, Kate @KateUpton, the ad and the brands @CarlsJr and @Hardees
-Those 5,000 tweets reached more than 12.4 million Twitter followers and had a 94 percent approval rating

Here is the Directors Cut CAUTION STEAMY!:

“This has been such a fun and exciting time for me,” said supermodel Kate Upton. “I’m so excited that my Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s commercial has been received so well. I had a blast shooting it and I’m thrilled to see it has more than four million views now.”