A SOMEWHAT risqué TV commercial made by the US-based Carl’s Jr burger chain promoting its all-natural burger featuring Australian grassfed beef has been sin-binned by US regulators, in advance of yesterday’s American Superbowl Gridiron final.

Carl’s Jr made the ad with the intention of broadcast during the game, which can see 30-second TV advertising slots hit stratospheric prices of A$4.5 million or more.

The ad features model Charlotte McKinney bearing all, and professing her love for going “all natural” while devouring a huge, delicious-looking Carl’s Jr all-natural, grassfed burger.

Carl’s Jr has gained notoriety for pushing the envelope with US sensors via its sexy ads, which marketing gurus say plays into the hands of the burger company when aired on Youtube. This particular advertisement has already received well over seven million Youtube views.

Click below to view the ad, but a warning to readers that it contains images that might cause affront to some viewers. As if that’s going to stop you.

Carl’s Junior became the first major US hamburger chain to move into the ‘natural’ category when it rolled out its “All-Natural” burger in December.

Beef Central wrote about that development in this article.

The Carl’s Jr Natural burger comes from beef raised without antibiotics or added hormones and comes from certified grassfed, free-range Australian cattle. The chain says it is using Australian beef because there is not enough domestic US supply of ‘natural’ beef available.

While there may be more than one Australian supplier involved because of the size of the Carl’s Jr account, Beef Central understands that a considerable part of the supply is coming from JBS Australia’s farm-assured Great Southern program, processed out of Victoria and Tasmania.

With 1150 locations across the US, Carl’s Jr ranks tenth in size among America’s fast food chains. It also operates outlets in Canada, Russia, China, Brazil and Indonesia, taking its store total to close to 1400.

The Carl’s Jr product launch capped off a strong 2014 year of growth for Australian beef supply chains making ‘natural’ and ‘grassfed’ claims, with big milestones including certified grassfed programs appearing in both Woolworths and Coles domestic supermarket chains, and a growing catalogue of international food service and retail outlets.

The successful Chipotle US quick service restaurant chain made a similar announcement in May last year, in its move to offering ‘natural’ beef from Australia in its restaurants. Click here to view.

Recently-retired Sanger Australia chairman Richard Rains said he could think of no better way to value add, than taking something that the Australian beef industry has always done (grassfed beef production), and selling it for what it ‘really is’ – a natural beef product, at a premium price. Perhaps the only difference for some, is to leave out the HGP, he said.

“Programs like this are taking our grassfed beef out of the commodity space and elevating it  into a high-demand, higher return category,” he said.