KFC pays college women for ad space on buns
By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY
KFC wants folks to watch its backside.
Or, more precisely, the backsides of female college
students it's recruiting to promote its hot new
bunless Double Down sandwiches.
Women on college campuses are being paid $500
each to hand out coupons while wearing fitted
sweatpants with "Double Down" in large letters
across their rear ends.
The promo comes as KFC is in the doldrums
domestically. The world's largest chicken chain's U.
S. same-store sales fell 7% in the second quarter.
Nearly all its growth now is in international
expansion.
Last week, the chain confessed that more than six in
10 Americans ages 18 to 25 â the chain's key
demographic â couldn't identify who Colonel
Sanders was in the KFC logo.
Now, it's turning to cute women parading around
campus with "Double Down" emblazoned across
their fannies.
The nation's largest women's group doesn't like it
one bit. "It's so obnoxious to once again be using
women's bodies to sell fundamentally unhealthy p
roducts," says Terry O'Neill, president of the
National Organization for Women. What's more, she
says, KFC has forgotten something important:
Women make more than half the decisions about
what to eat for dinner.
But KFC marketing chief John Cywinski says it's an
effective way to catch the attention of young men â
KFC's key customers and the biggest fans of Double
Down.
As of Tuesday afternoon, KFC had received no
complaints about the campaign, KFC spokesman
Rick Maynard says. "We've taken a page out of the
book of some apparel companies and sororities who
have promoted in this way for years," Maynard says.
The program began last week at Spalding University
in downtown Louisville. The chain plans to expand
it to at least three more campuses. The additional
schools and the women there will be picked via a
Facebook promotion.
The stunt hasn't reached Colorado State University
â and senior public relations major Candace
Carlucci hopes it never does. "It may be funny, but
it's also inappropriate and degrading," she says.
"There must be another way for KFC to get its
message out."
Brand guru Jonathan Salem Baskin says there's
nothing "inherently wrong" with using women to
attract guys, but in this case, "It's irrelevant to the
product." KFC would do better, he says, to follow the
McDonald's model: "Clean up your stores, fix the
menu and please people with the food you make."
One point of confusion, he jokes: "I guess the buns
do come with KFC's sandwich."
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2010-09-22-kfc22_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY
KFC wants folks to watch its backside.
Or, more precisely, the backsides of female college
students it's recruiting to promote its hot new
bunless Double Down sandwiches.
Women on college campuses are being paid $500
each to hand out coupons while wearing fitted
sweatpants with "Double Down" in large letters
across their rear ends.
The promo comes as KFC is in the doldrums
domestically. The world's largest chicken chain's U.
S. same-store sales fell 7% in the second quarter.
Nearly all its growth now is in international
expansion.
Last week, the chain confessed that more than six in
10 Americans ages 18 to 25 â the chain's key
demographic â couldn't identify who Colonel
Sanders was in the KFC logo.
Now, it's turning to cute women parading around
campus with "Double Down" emblazoned across
their fannies.
The nation's largest women's group doesn't like it
one bit. "It's so obnoxious to once again be using
women's bodies to sell fundamentally unhealthy p
roducts," says Terry O'Neill, president of the
National Organization for Women. What's more, she
says, KFC has forgotten something important:
Women make more than half the decisions about
what to eat for dinner.
But KFC marketing chief John Cywinski says it's an
effective way to catch the attention of young men â
KFC's key customers and the biggest fans of Double
Down.
As of Tuesday afternoon, KFC had received no
complaints about the campaign, KFC spokesman
Rick Maynard says. "We've taken a page out of the
book of some apparel companies and sororities who
have promoted in this way for years," Maynard says.
The program began last week at Spalding University
in downtown Louisville. The chain plans to expand
it to at least three more campuses. The additional
schools and the women there will be picked via a
Facebook promotion.
The stunt hasn't reached Colorado State University
â and senior public relations major Candace
Carlucci hopes it never does. "It may be funny, but
it's also inappropriate and degrading," she says.
"There must be another way for KFC to get its
message out."
Brand guru Jonathan Salem Baskin says there's
nothing "inherently wrong" with using women to
attract guys, but in this case, "It's irrelevant to the
product." KFC would do better, he says, to follow the
McDonald's model: "Clean up your stores, fix the
menu and please people with the food you make."
One point of confusion, he jokes: "I guess the buns
do come with KFC's sandwich."
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2010-09-22-kfc22_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
, or better yet, 
