"Always fresh, never frozen."

That's the emphasis in a new national advertising campaign for Wendy's hamburgers as the nation's third-largest burger chain tries to revitalize its brand.

But like so many things in Hawai'i, local consumers are getting a raw, or in this case thawed, deal.

Burgers sold at the seven Hawai'i Wendy's restaurants are made from frozen meat because, the company said, supplying fresh beef here would make it difficult to sell the made-to-order old-fashioned hamburgers at reasonable, quick-service prices.

"The high-quality beef we use in our hamburgers in Hawai'i arrives on the islands frozen," said Wendy's spokesman Bob Bertini.

The Wendy's TV commercial, aired in Hawai'i, does note in a small, brief disclaimer that fresh beef is available only in the contiguous United States and Canada.

Hawai'i consumers to some extent have grown accustomed to being excluded from things available in other states, except maybe Alaska, such as satellite radio, overnight delivery, prime-time TV sporting events and many travel-related promotions.

In one case, electronics retailer Circuit City excluded Hawai'i residents from a plasma-screen television giveaway.

Some entire companies, such as Trader Joe's, elect not to do business in Hawai'i altogether because of higher costs.

Ohio-based Wendy's International Inc. was established in 1969 and entered Hawai'i in 1978. Today, seven of its roughly 6,700 restaurants are here — six on O'ahu and one on the Big Island.

The company recently debuted its "Fresh, never frozen" TV commercial during the finals of "American Idol" as part of an effort to reinvigorate the Wendy's brand in an evolving media strategy that focuses more heavily on the chain's core hamburger business.

Wendy's earlier this year hired new advertising agencies that created the ad in which a man, wearing a red pigtailed wig and mindlessly kicking a tree in the woods along with other people, breaks the herd mentality by announcing that he deserves a hot, juicy burger.

"Why eat a hamburger made of frozen beef?" the man asks himself as he stops kicking. "Just because they're doing it doesn't mean I have to."

Bertini, the Wendy's spokesman, said that any ads that originate in Hawai'i do not reference fresh beef.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.