For years Carl’s Jr. tried to get attention by following an old advertising adage: Sex sells. The fast-food chain’s commercials featured Heidi Klum licking a burger, Kim Kardashian lounging in a bubble bath and Paris Hilton in a revealing swimsuit washing a Bentley. It even trolled critics with a defiant statement: “We believe in putting hot models in our commercials, because ugly ones don’t sell burgers.”

That was before the #MeToo movement, slipping sales and changes in corporate leadership, with three chief executives in three years. Now Carl's Jr.’s parent company, CKE Restaurants Holdings, plans an ad campaign in the spring that’s meant to put some distance between the chain and its old image.

“Our plan moving forward is really about how to keep food at the center of what we’re doing,” said Chad Crawford, a veteran of Burger King, Denny’s and Popeyes who was recently named CKE’s chief brands officer.