Hooters: Feeding the Dream

Art by Grace Poole SC ’16

After five years of continuously falling sales, the controversial restaurant chain- Hooters, has decided to veer away from its historically male target audience to attract more women. With their label of being a “breastaurant” and their daisy-duke clad waitresses, it is no surprise that about two-thirds of Hooter’s patrons are men. In an effort to encourage the other half of the population to dine, Hooters is now focused on advertising their reconstructed image on television to attract more patrons without deserting their main money-making attraction- the Hooter girls. CEO Terry Marks claims that by tweaking the menu to include more healthy options and revamping the décor to account for nightlife, Hooters will soon become an acceptable destination for both women and men.  Marks told The Atlantic, “There’s an opportunity to broaden the newt without putting wool sweaters on the Hooters girls. Everything we do should appeal more to women, but nothing we will do will turn men off” (Maureen).

To be honest, I was quite skeptical about advertising Hooters to a more female audience because I was under the impression that it would, in a way, desensitize women towards the profit being made off crass advertising. To a certain degree, it almost seemed like justifying the $300 million gross income made by the chain, not because of its substandard chicken wings, its aesthetics, or even its tacky owl shirts, but because of, as Hooter’s vice president puts it, “joking and innuendo on female sex appeal” (Maureen). It did not really make sense to me to support the growth of a “breastaurant” who’s tagline has been changed, ironically, to “feed the dream.” What dream, exactly, would women be feeding by helping Hooters prosper? Perhaps we are the dream, and the new healthy salad menu is our measly reward. Or perhaps the Hooter’s and its historically-dominant male patrons are the dream, and the new flurry of females is the ultimate prize. Either option seemed quite unnerving.

While the new campaign has several flaws at first glance, I will admit that a deeper consideration of Hooters as a sociopolitical restaurant makes it easier for me to be on board with their advertising.  It is important to remember that Hooters is not the typical strip club or bar; it is right alongside the hustle bustle of the city- right next to the grocery store, the farmers market, or the hospital. Perhaps I would have thought differently if Hooters were a hushed-up shack hidden away in the fringes of town, but when it is just as accessible to the typical male patron as it is to a young, inquisitive child, would it not be better to no longer have a public symbol catering primarily towards males. Currently Hooters seems to promote a twisted segregation in favor of men through the manipulation of women, and when such an image is broadly publicized to an unfiltered audience, it quickly becomes an unquestioned norm. I have recently realized, with guilt, that I have never questioned the motives of Hooters, and it is frightening that future generations would also find it acceptable to sell female sexuality for pure male entertainment.  Would it not be better to have a public image of entertainment equality?

In a society where there is a distinct relationship between breasts and commerce, it is also important to raise awareness of how backwards and degrading the treatment towards waitresses at Hooters and similar restaurants is. If this public, yet exclusive restaurant continues to market primarily towards males, there will only be internalized conflict whispered about in public settings. Hooters is notorious for invasively strict guidelines on how waitresses must lead their lives to ensure utmost perfection during their interactions with customers. Naturally, such monitoring has brought on several disagreements between Hooters and their waitresses, yet given the male-dominant audience and executive board, it is no surprise that their concerns are hidden away and ignored.  Bringing women into the restaurant reduces the discriminatory exclusiveness of the club, and promotes more conversation about whether or not a chain restaurant such as Hooters, which uses sex appeal as its main strategy to garner revenue, is fitting in a hopefully progressive society.

On a more positive note, perhaps the decline of Hooters is a sign that gender inequality issues are becoming better voiced in the male community. It may be true that unlike in the past, advertising in todays’ society recognizes that appealing to males also means appealing to women. As women become stronger and more play more prominent roles, the ease at which some men can degrade and joke about feminism also goes down.  If the unreliability of male customers in male-dominated entertainment is any indication of growing irritation over objectifying women, we can have much higher hopes for women rights in the future.

Morrison, Maureen. Hooters: We’re More than Wings Gone Wild. July 31, 2012.                    http://adage.com/article/news/hooters-lure-women-diners/236418/