Lately I've been seeing a TV commercial from Jack in the Box that I'm amazed hasn't been pulled off the air yet (yes, I'm easily amazed). For those of you in states that do not have a JITB, it's a fast food restaurant based in primarily Western states that runs funny, irreverent commercials featuring "Jack", the company CEO, who happens to have a giant clown head.

The commercial opens late at night with a long-haired college-age guy pulling up in his van in the drive-thru lane at a Jack in the Box. He sits there in a daze trying to decide what to order when the "Jack" bobble-head on his dashboard turns into a miniature version of Jack the live-action spokesman. Jack launches into a pitch for the two-for-a-dollar tacos, and the guy asks Jack how many he should order. Jack looks at him knowingly (at least as knowingly as a guy in a giant clown head can look) and says "How about thirty?" The guy, who is clearly stoned, tries to hold in his giggles and says "That's just what I was thinkin'!"

Now, I'm sure that Jack in the Box is one of the late-night venues of choice for potheads with the munchies, but this is the first mainstream commercial I've seen that so glaringly markets specifically to this target audience. With its low prices, abundant food and late night drive thrus, I guess it's a natural. Perhaps the company figured that it was so "under the radar" that nobody except for stoners themselves would recognize that the main character is not merely a stupid hungry person, but is one of them.

What really got to me is not just that the main character is portrayed as under the influence of drugs, but that he's driving in that condition, as if it's normal and acceptable. Ironically, as I was surfing around trying to find a link to the commercial (which is apparently not online), I came across a posting on a site called "Hack in the Box" that cites an article from New Scientist:

Cannabis almost doubles the risk of fatal car crashes, according to a new study, though smoking the drug is still far less risky than drunk-driving, the researchers say. Stoned drivers were almost twice as likely to be involved in a fatal car crashes than abstemious drivers, according to a study of 10,748 fatal car crashes in France between 2001 and 2003. More than half of the drivers in the study themselves died as a result of their accidents and all the subjects were tested for drug and alcohol use after crashing.

But hey, gotta sell some tacos.

UPDATE (2/23/06): You can hear me being interviewed on San Francisco's KGO radio (810 AM) about this issue in this mp3 file.

UPDATE (4/21/06): Thanks to Tad for sending me the link to the streaming version of this ad.

UPDATE (2/20/07): See post with update on protest against commercials.