Wednesday, May 13, 2009

An open letter to KFC

Dear KFC Grilled Chicken Product Manager and Marketing Team,

I'd like to congratulate you all on the greatness that is Grilled KFC! I couldn't believe it when I heard a few weeks ago that you had finally come up with the perfect combination of the Colonel's secret spices AND healthy grilled chicken. Could it actually be true?

Oh, yeah, baby....KFC without the fat! A whole chicken breast for just four grams of fat? And a yummy one at that? Hold me while I cry!

It's now possible for me to feed my family grilled chicken, corn on the cob, and mashed potatoes, without turning on the stove! Toss in a bagged salad, and bingo, instant bordering-on-healthy dinner that we can all agree on!

I would like to ask you to rethink your new website, though. I know you marketing guys get your eyes on the prize and forget to really THINK about the message you're sending. In this case, you're telling us about thinking thin, about the unfried, the healthy, blah blah blah.

But seriously, guys! Your new website? You know the one: www.unthinkfc.com.

Some of your predecessors spent their entire careers branding KFC in the minds of consumers. So I hate to be the one to break it to you, but when we see "unthinkfc, "we don't read "Unthink FC." We see "Unthin KFC."

Hello? This the message you're trying to send?

Silly me! I was totally sold on grilled chicken throughout your commercial. See the pretty chicken? Ooh, pretty chicken! Low fat! No grease! Feed your family fast food, minus the guilt!

Then you go and eff it up by splashing your web address across the screen, and you replace the message of decent healthy meal by telling me "unthin KFC!"

Now I'm just confused! Can someone tell me - is it healthy or is it unthin? I'm a pretty smart girl, but this is just too much to figure out.

Reminds me of the Nissan commercials a couple years ago that said G O F A R T H E R. We all know they meant "go farther" but the way the letters appeared on the screen the first time I saw the commercial, I read "go fart her." And the next five hundred times I saw the commercial, I wondered only what "go fart her" really meant.

Maybe you and the Nissan guys all work for the same ad agency and no one checks your work? Hard to know.

In all fairness, I am in sales and not marketing, and I really don't understand what it takes to put together a marketing campaign for a new product. I've gotta believe, though, based on my own experience with marketing managers, that at least SOMEONE out there ought to be paying better attention!

Gotta go fart her. Unthin KFC. Peace out!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you email this to them? Cause I would. It is pure genuis!!

Big Al said...

but we really know you drive a min Ivan, and put your bread in a toe aster.