Advertising: Only Kidding, Lunch Ladies!

Anyone who ever slid a tray down a school cafeteria line remembers them well: the lunch ladies. They may be warmhearted, but their food is not always so hot. The Roy Rogers hamburger chain thought it would be a good idea to conjure up that memory with commercials featuring lunch ladies who dish up dismal casseroles to the tune of See You in September. The ads remind students to take advantage of their free time to snack on the company’s fast food.

The campaign was highly effective, but the chain dropped the commercials last week because it offended a particular group: lunch ladies. The American School Food Service Association complained that the ads were unkind to cafeteria workers. Roy Rogers first ran the ads in 1988 but encountered the same reaction and shelved them. The campaign was revived this year under the company’s new owner, Hardee’s, but lunch ladies have grown no more willing to be taken lightly.