"colonel sanders" news and stories

Do you have what it takes to be the next Colonel Sanders?

KFC is searching for a new face for its Kentucky Grilled Chicken (KGC) food line. The fast-food chain is calling for video submissions on its MySpace page through July 7, 2009, in an "Ultimate KGC Fan" contest.

The chicken chain wants entrants to make submissions saying why they should be the new face of the grilled chicken product, which was unveiled in April.

At stake is a lifetime supply of Kentucky Grilled Chicken, which company officials value at $13,000. Semifinalists will be selected on July 25 and the public will have the chance to weigh in on Aug. 1.

The contest comes after KFC came under fire for a botched free Kentucky Grilled Chicken giveaway. Stores ran out of the chicken and diners had to settle for a rain check in May after Oprah Winfrey gave away coupons for a free sample of the new grilled chicken.

But company officials said it was still a win. "The critical thing for us was to get people to eat the chicken, whatever it took," KFC President Roger Eaton told the Associated Press.

Until a fast-food restaurant places ads on the moon, the publicity stunt that KFC used to unveil its new logo earlier this week gets my vote for most bizarre. The chicken purveyor placed a gargantuan logo in the Nevada desert, making it the first brand visible from outer space. The outsized ad measures 87,000 square feet, a whopping six-and-a-half times bigger than the dome of the Taj Mahal.

The new logo is part of a rebranding effort that includes using the name Kentucky Fried Chicken along with reintroducing the slogans "Finger Lickin' Good" and "11 Secret Herbs and Spices." Forgive me while I indulge in some greasy childhood nostalgia as I ponder those slogans. The new logo sports bolder colors and a more defined graphic of the chain's late founder Colonel Harland Sanders. In addition to the crisper likeness, the good colonel has shed his white suit in favor of a red apron.

It's great that KFC is getting back to its roots and letting folks know that the colonel was a real person, but did they really need to build what amounts to a corporate version of the eighth wonder of the world? Gregg Dedrick, president of KFC Corp. had this to say: "If there are extraterrestrials in outer space, KFC wants to become their restaurant of choice. For now, we'll be very content satisfying the entire human population ... Besides, who knows if extraterrestrials even have fingers?" Umm, OK then.

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Remember when Kentucky Fried Chicken officially changed its name to KFC, in an effort to make an older brand seem hipper and to eliminate the word "fried" from its name? Well, the company is looking to change its image a little more. The iconic Colonel Sanders is getting a makeover. KFC has trademarked a new rendition of the Colonel. He is a bit less detailed than previous incarnations, with fewer lines in his hair and skin, as well as getting outfitted with a bright red apron.

I like the look, which is the bottom right in the image here, well enough, but prefer the older versions simply because the Colonel looked more like a real character, a version of the real life man he was based on, and less like a fictional fast-food employee, which is the sense that the new image seems to give. It's not a major change, but it's a noticeable one.

Do you prefer the older look or the newer one? You can vote for your favorite version of the Colonel here.

[via Fast Food News]

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AdJab just posted a great list of their top eight male mascots in the advertising world, and poking around over there, I noticed that all of them, with the exception of Mr. Clean, are from food products. Guess that goes to show how important branding, marketing, and advertising are to consumer-packaged foods.

AdJab picks Orville Redenbacher, Sonny the Cuckoo Bird (cuckoo for CoCo Puffs!), Snap, Crackle and Pop! (they come as a package deal), Charlie the Starkist Tuna, Sugar Bear, Hamburger Helper Hand (which always freaked me out because he doesn't have five fingers), and Colonel Sanders.

Who are the food mascot "men" you remember?