It's about time.

Thank. God.

They should just keep re-using the "Where's the beef?" spots.

Actually, I kinda liked them. Since Dave Thomas passed away, Wendy's has had to find a new direction for their ad campaigns. I'm sure that was rough - he was as linked with the brand as Col. Sanders, Orville Redenbacher, etc.

I think these spots have served their purpose like the Arby's hat commercials have. From an advertising standpoint, the red hair is inherent to Wendy's. It's a sight gag that you immediately understand. I think it was a clever use of their branding - no matter how juvenile the humor.

Bring back Dave Thomas.
Even his dessicated corpse would be better than that pigtailed wig crap!

@Greasy Thumb Guzik: They tried that with orville, and it's creepy.

@myrall: I always got confused when they had the "BACON!!!!" ones, because IHOP also had a "BACON!!!!" Commercial.

@myrall: I didn't immediately understand them - I really had to think about it for awhile before I figured out what the hell red wigs had to do with Wendy's. Because...Dave Thomas didn't have red hair...and then finally I realized "OOOHHHH the GIRL!"

"It's waaaay better than fast food. It's Wendy's."

That's their new slogan? They must have 10-yr old girls working in their marketing department.

There really is a marketing God!! Thank you!!

Yeah, bringing back the "Where's the beef" ads would be great. I like that Redenbacher commercial they have been playing lately, pretty nostalgic.

Praise the Lord!

Wendy's is the under rated king of fast food! Since tasting my first Wendy's burger 4 years ago I havent bought one from mcdonalds or burger king.

I hated those comercials though and I'm glad they are going away. Tehy didnt even make sence. What was with the kicking the trees one?

And just to show us that we will never have to endure this kind of advertising ever again, the folks that created it and the goofy guy that wears the wig should be exiled to far away lands.

Those commercials made my head want to explode. Now if TiVo would only drop the stupid TiVo ears from every picture they put on their website.

@jaydez: Wendy's is always my first choice when I feel like indulging. That is, unless there's an A&W around.

Worse than the Arby's hat ads.

Thank. The. Gods.

I kept imagining the actors wearing a Pippi Longstocking merkin down below (with upturned braids!) to match the one on their head. And - needless to say - I had VERY unsettling dreams.

When will marketing people realize creepy characters are no way to promote your business. The only one worse than the Wendy's wigged freak was the dancing old man/reanimated corpse Great America used for years.

i never got those commercials. i thought they were awful.

"I DESERVE A HOT JUICY BURGER"

I find it really hard to believe that they make it as soon as you order. That was the most obnoxious thing about the ads. You know for a fact that they've already been prepared for a few minutes.

But Wendy's has got to be the fastest of the fast food chains. Every one I go to they're practically throwing the food in my car as soon as I get up to the window.

Oh jesus no speaking of merkins.

I thought the commercials weren't so bad, if a big Will Farrel ripoff.

Anything is better than "I'm lovin' it".

I kinda liked 'em, myself -- they were completely ridiculous. There are certainly worse add campaigns (esurance, Redbull, McDonalds, I'm looking at you).

Who really cares, anyhow?

A computer generated Dave Thomas would probably be equally as creepy as the Orville Redenbacher.

An animated Dave Thomas wouldn't be as good as the animated Colonel Sanders since he's not as much as a caricature.

On a side note apparently Colonel Sanders was a dirty old man.

@ex_ea_slave: What's wrong with creepy characters selling food? ;)

My prayers, they are answered. That was a horrible campaign; whoever came up with the idea should be fired. I purposefully ate at Wendy's less because of those commercials.

They were weird, but sometimes amusing.

Wendy's is really the only fast food burger i'll touch, but if they really wanted my money, they'd bring back the hilarious "ranch tooth" ad and the sandwich that came with it. RAAAANCH.

@balthisar: Oooooooh, A&W! But there's never one around when you need one.

Maybe they could make a Dave Thomas costume along the lines of the Burger King costume. On second though, no. Creeeepeeeeee.

@EBounding: Every one I go to they're practically throwing the food in my car as soon as I get up to the window.

I read that too fast, and misplaced one word. "Every one I go to they're practically throwing up the food in my car as soon as I get to the window." Ewww.

@Chaosium:

ANYTHING is better than the "I'm Lovin' It" campaign? Clearly you don't recall MacDonald's regrettable "Double Cheeseburger? I'd Hit It" ads.

Ew.

My Wendy's visits have been down during the past year. I blamed that fact on a little mom & pop opening up just down the road from me.

Maybe it really was the crappy commercials that caused my buying shift.

@Balisong:

By "the girl", you mean Wendy. Dave Thomas named the chain after his daughter. ;)

@EBounding:

I worked the grill at a Wendy's for a couple years out of high school, and believe it or not, the burgers are made fresh pretty much when you order them. Every few minutes I had to add a new column of patties onto the hibachi-style grill, and flip the other burgers one column to the right. The burgers on the far right were the ones that were done and ready to serve, and when a new set of patties are added, the oldest column is removed from the grill and ground up to be added to later batches of chili.

The number of patties that were added when a new batch was put on was determined by how busy we were at the time. Ultimately, this made sure every sandwich was made with a burger patty that had just finished cooking and was still fresh. If were busy, we did not hang onto meat that was no longer fresh, customers just had to wait for the next fresh burger to be ready.

At least, that's the proper system we were supposed to adhere to, which I did when I worked there. I can't speak for the grill guy at who ends up making your burger.

Doesn't their food have to taste good first to make the claim that it tastes better?

Those commercials made no sense. Really. Ayn Rand would have a heart attack at that obvious creation of committee think.

Did you really just use Ayn Rand and Wendy's and TV commercials in the same thought? Seriously? That is awesome.

It's cheeseburgers. And TV. And America.

Enjoy.

Well thank god.

Wendy's is good. I used to work for a food safety/quality control company and the head of the department said Wendy's and Whataburger had the most consistent and best beef patties of all the places that sent their stuff to them for testing.