Hot Flashes

Hot Flashes is a 2009 Jack in the Box commercial.

Synopsis

A middle-aged woman clad in pink is tending to her garden. "Am I going through menopause? You bet I am!" she tells the audience. She gives a big smile as she forcefully cuts a flower off a bush without breaking eye contact with the camera. The scene cuts to her walking through her garden while she continues in voiceover: "But you'd never know it, thanks to the new tropical fruit smoothie at Jack in the Box." She releases a butterfly. "With my hot flashes blindsighting me, I need to cool off fast." She holds up a shiny trowel, which makes an audible "ding" as the light hits it, as she smiles at the camera in an unsettling fashion.

The scene shifts to her standing next to Jack Box, who is holding a fruit smoothie on a red tray. He has a blank facial expression: his usual red smile is now a small line. The woman grabs the smoothie. "That's why I love this delicious combination of mango, banana, and frozen yogurt." B-roll footage of the smoothies is shown. "It keeps me cool, refreshed, and best of all it keeps me from going all... you know." "Street rat crazy?" suggests Jack, who subtly inches away from her. "Yeah," she replies with a big smile.

Reception

The Menopause Goddess Blog called the commercial hilarious, pleased that it proved "America is paying attention" to "The Big M." The feminist blog Jezebel opined that the commercial's inclusion of an older woman "might be progressive, if it didn't suggest that smoothies prevent menopausal women from getting hot flashes and acting like crazy bitches." The website The Daily Meal included Hot Flashes on a list of the "8 Most Offensive Beverage Ads," noting "some folks were not so amused by a commercial that featured a derange-looking Stepford housewife type who credited drinking Jack-in-the-Box smoothies with helping her survive hot flashes."

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