So last week, KFC gave out free pieces of grilled chicken. Apparently that promotion wasn't successful enough because now KFC has enlisted the help of Oprah. And when you do that, be ready to handle the crowds.
Oprah told her audience that KFC is struggling and she wants to help. So, she was providing a coupon, available on KFC's new Web site UnThink KFC, that let people claim a free meal: two pieces of chicken, two sides and a biscuit.
Sorry, but you already missed out. The coupon was only available until midnight last night and even then, the Web site was down a good portion of the day from too much traffic. KFC is already reporting "millions" of coupons downloaded. Look for them to show up on an online black market any second now.
It's easy to understand why KFC wanted the Oprah tie-in. The response has been phenomenal. The first lunch rush after the coupon was available, some KFCs reported they had already run out of free chicken.
But it's a lot harder to see what Oprah gets on her side of the bargain.
She has been a major advocate against factory farms, part of the reason PETA named her a person of the year in 2008. KFC is the
exact opposite, buying nearly all of its chickens from factory farms with terrible conditions. To some groups this promotion is being seen as treason. Civil Eats is calling Oprah's participation "a serious disappointment to say the least." PETA runs a site called Kentucky Fried Cruelty and, while keeping mum on Oprah's endorsement, has asked people to "unthink KFC for good."
There
is more bad news. Part of the reason Oprah backed this free campaign is
because grilled chicken is healthier than fried chicken. I even agreed that was the case. But that was before I realized KFC was
misrepresenting its nutrition numbers by making
the grilled-chicken serving sizes much smaller than the original-recipe chicken.
Daily Fork did the serious legwork
and made this chart comparing KFC's
original chicken to its grilled chicken when the serving sizes are
equal.
potatoes or macaroni and cheese, it's not healthy in the slightest.
Oprah has not been afraid to
admit when she's messed up in the past. (James Frey anyone?) But this
argument comes down to which issue Oprah cares more about -- free stuff
for her viewers or the campaign against factory farms.
(Original image of Oprah via Flickr: Nayrb 7)
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I can't believe you just read this article and printed out coupons that will save someone a whopping five dollars. The article just stated, "KFC is the exact opposite, buying nearly all of its chickens from factory farms with terrible conditions." If you were that desperate, I would've mailed you a check.
A downloaded PDF may or may not work. There's a rectangular box near the top of the coupon, to the left of the bar code. All the copies I saw available for download had that box a bit distorted - the text wasn't clear like a "real" copy printed from the KFC site.
I suspect that's why they're making people mail them in - so they can determine whether the coupons are legit or not without pushing validation off on their employees and franchisees. It's a smart move on their part - why make some counter jockey deal with an already irate customer who's being turned down for a phony coupon? This way, the customer gets a "sorry, your coupon wasn't valid" letter turning them down instead of having it happen in the restaurant where s/he can create a scene. And if they want to get nasty about it, well, it says right there on the coupon that "coupon fraud is punishable by law."
So I'd make sure I was sending in a legit coupon along with my name and address if I were you.
That's odd...the nutrition info would suggest that breading and frying a wing would add only a gram of fat.
Of course, it's also a reminder that dark meat is fattier than a lot of cuts of beef.
at one point yesterday instead of a coupon it let me download a .pdf file, I still have it and can email it to anyone who wants it. make sure to start a riot whenyou get there http://www.businessinsider.com...
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