John's Blog

As mind-boggling stupid as most current advertising is, looking back at some vintage KFC ads makes me wonder what the heck were they thinking? This old Canadian ad is a prime example of my befuddlement.

I'm not sure what they were going for, but this parade of hypnotized, zombie like people marching in circles not only makes me dizzy, but suggests that they may belong to a strange cult that worships this giant bucket. And who the heck thought that putting a frail old man with a cane who can barely move high atop this large bucket was a good idea? These days making reference to Colonel Sanders and his "boys" would insure that several other organizations in addition to PETA would be jumping down their back.

Very few of the cheesy 70's commercials are going to hold up well and make the Colonel proud. The ones with synchronized dancing employees are always crowd pleasers though. If only the workers at my local fast food outlets were as good as this and enjoyed their job this much.

But among the strangest was this one suggesting chicken as a way to "take a break from the pressure". Perhaps the reason those 11 herbs are "secret" isn't what we first assumed. So the guy is stressed out from work, the Colonel shows up with a bucket of bliss, and then leaves with his wife at the end of the commercial? Between the spooky music and the weird message, that's just not gonna make me rush out and buy chicken.

Various forms of animation have been utilized, but not always successfully. At one point The Colonel himself was turned into a break-dancing animated character; luckily he didn't live to see that. But the use of a cartoon chicken (Foghorn Leghorn) to sell fried chicken may have been in equally poor taste.

But at least we haven't been selfish, and kept all this bad taste and cheesiness to ourselves. These Chinese KFC ads seem just as bad as the home grown variety.

Tags: TV, advertising, pop-culture, videos, you tube, nostalgia, pointless rambling, KFC