Jack in the Box has come under fire for a sexually suggestive advertisement for the chain’s new teriyaki bowls. 
 
 The ad features Jack, the brand’s fictional CEO, discussing the new bowls by using them as a pun for a part of the male anatomy. 
 
 In the commercial, Jack walks into a room and explains he’s the only one with “the bowls to serve something different.” 
 
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 The spot continues with more bowl-based innuendo. At one point Jack says to an employee, “You’ve got some pretty nice bowls there, and so does Dan.” A female employee also comments on how nice Dan’s “bowls” are. 
 
 The nearly minute-long ad finishes with an executive explaining to a clueless Jack that his marketing strategy is making people “uncomfortable.” 
 
 The tongue-in-cheek commercial seems par for the course for the brand — which has also caught some flak for its stoner-geared Munchies Meals ads. However, many viewers feel the ad is tone-deaf in today’s #MeToo environment. 
 
 AdWeek ran an article by David Griner titled “Jack in the Box Just Launched One of the Most Tone-Deaf Ads of the #MeToo Era,” saying the stunt celebrates sexual jokes in the workplace. 
 
 Several on Twitter agreed with Griner, saying the sexual innuendos were offensive, while others felt people were making "something out of nothing." 
 
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 Jack in the Box and the advertising agency responsible for the teriyaki bowl campaign, David & Goliath, told CBS News that the commercial is simply continuing what people have come to expect from the brand. 
 
 "[A]s a brand known by its fans for its tongue-in-cheek, playful sense of humor, this ad is simply a creative and humorous expression around the teriyaki bowl product," the companies said in a joint statement. "It intends to highlight how a burger brand such as Jack in the Box dares to go beyond the usual fast food fare and serve something different." 
 
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 As of Wednesday afternoon, the commercial is still running. 
 
 Jack in the Box has not responded to Fox News’ request for comment. 

 Let’s get this out of the way: Yes, juvenile humor is still OK. Kmart’s “Ship My Pants” spot is still just as funny, charming and joyously silly as it was in 2013. 
 
 What’s not OK, especially after all the tales of hostile work environments that have been highlighted by the #MeToo movement, is an ad that celebrates sexual innuendo in the workplace, which is exactly what Jack in the Box and agency David&Goliath have done with a new ad called “Jack’s Bowls.” 
 
 The spot, which is basically a minute of incessant genital jokes, promotes the brand’s new teriyaki bowls by having fictional executive Jack reference them as testicles. “You’ve got some pretty nice bowls there,” Jack tells a male colleague, “but so does Dan.” A female employee then also compliments Dan on his “nice bowls.” 
 
 In perhaps its most telling moment, the ad tries to go meta by having a lawyer explain to Jack that the campaign is inappropriate, but (in a commendably accurate portrayal of male executives), he doesn’t understand what the fuss is about. 
 
 In a joint statement, the brand and agency defended the spot, telling Adweek that the ad is not referencing the high-profile #MeToo movement, which has raised awareness of how women across multiple industries face hostile work environments due not only to direct sexual harassment but also to “boys’ club” culture typified by sexual innuendo and off-color humor in professional environments. 
 
 “This ad is a creative and humorous expression around the teriyaki bowl, highlighting how a burger brand such as Jack in the Box has the guts—or ‘bowls’—to go beyond the usual and serve something other than burgers,” says the joint statement from Jack in the Box and David&Goliath to Adweek. “This ad is not diminishing any movement, and we stand firmly against any form of harassment and value those who have the guts to combat it.” 
 
 As part of the campaign, trucks wrapped with a “Only Jack Has the Bowls” message will park near competitors such as McDonald’s, Burger King and Carl’s Jr. 
 
 Jack in the Box 
 
 Jack in the Box 
 
 The creatives certainly had no shortage of ball jokes. In the ad’s YouTube summary, the brand included 13 more taglines, including “Taste my bowls,” and “Get your hands on my bowls.” 
 
 Much like with Pepsi’s bumbling foray into Black Lives Matter, one has to wonder about the conversations that lead to an ad like this. Did no one raise a flag? Or did they, only to get shot down as prudes and PC worrywarts? Is it simply tactical baiting of controversy—or, phrased more simply, trolling? 
 
 In case it needs to be spelled out, here’s the insidiousness of frequent off-color, sexualized humor in the workplace, especially when perpetuated by executives: It puts employees—most often women, though certainly members the LGBTQ community and honestly anyone with mature sensibilities—in the unwinnable dilemma of either complaining (making them outcasts in their own workplace) or quietly tolerating it and being enablers of a toxic environment. 
 
 Can creatives still make genital jokes and sexual innuendo? Sure. Advertising has rolled out quite a few good ones in recent years, including Australian agency Clemenger BBDO’s hilariously anthropomorphized testicles, spokesballs for Bonds underwear who bemoan their abuse by uncomfortable undergarments or jarring situations. 
 
 But when you find yourself reaching for a genital innuendo just because you can, then choosing to place it in a workplace, having it come from the boss and even dropping in a lawyer to sorry-not-sorry acknowledge what a tone-deaf idea this is, then the focus is no longer on your food. Instead, you’re putting your workplace culture on display and saying, “We think this is totally OK in the office.” 
 
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 Published on Aug 8, 2018 
 
 Jack in the Box wants it to be known that any of the following phrases are simply a reference to Jack’s delicious Teriyaki Bowls: 
 
 
 
 “Try my bowls” 
 
 “Nice bowls” 
 
 “Get your hands on my bowls” 
 
 “Taste my bowls” 
 
 “Enjoy my bowls” 
 
 “Get both my bowls” 
 
 “Check out my bowls” 
 
 “How are my bowls?” 
 
 “Look at my bowls” 
 
 “Saucy bowls” 
 
 “Meaty bowls” 
 
 “My jealous competitors are always busting my bowls” 
 
 “You’re gonna love my bowls”
– Jack in the Box surely saw the backlash coming. In a controversial new TV ad, mascot Jack is told "the lawyers aren't comfortable" with a pun-filled marketing campaign linking the burger chain's new teriyaki bowls to another term for testicles. "I'm the one with the bowls to serve something different," Jack says, before complimenting the "nice bowls" of his male employees. Per USA Today, the chain and ad agency David & Goliath say the spot is "simply a creative and humorous expression around the teriyaki bowl product" from "a brand known by its fans for its tongue-in-cheek, playful sense of humor." But that's not AdWeek writer David Griner's take in an article headlined, "Jack in the Box Just Launched One of the Most Tone-Deaf Ads of the #MeToo Era." "Yes, juvenile humor is still OK," Griner notes. "What's not OK, especially after all the tales of hostile work environments that have been highlighted by the #MeToo movement, is an ad that celebrates sexual innuendo in the workplace." Indeed, the ad set in the office is "basically a minute of incessant genital jokes," Griner writes. Several Twitter users agree with his criticism: "I feel like I just got sexually harassed by a Jack in the Box ad," one writes. "This is simply not the right time," adds another, per Fox News. Others say the ad is pee-your-pants funny and people should lighten up. Adds Jack in the Box: "This ad is not diminishing any movement, and we stand firmly against any form of harassment and value those who have the guts to combat it."