It might be finger lickin' good, but not even 11 herbs and spices can save KFC from public backlash... especially when the choice is made to use racial stereotypes in a marketing campaign.
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00:00It might be finger-lickin' good, but not even 11 Herbs and Spices can save KFC from public
00:06backlash, especially when the choice is made to use racial stereotypes in a marketing campaign.
00:12Poor sales are the tipping point for any brand, especially if they go on for long enough.
00:17While KFC only recently started reporting a decline in sales, the situation is still
00:21significant enough to spark mild concern among the head honchos at Yum! Brands, KFC's parent
00:27In May 2024, its CEO, David Gibbs, noted that KFC's U.S. stores are struggling in an earnings
00:33call. At the heart of this concern was the fact that KFC's U.S. sales dropped by 7 percent
00:38in the past quarter. Gibbs pegged some of this decline on difficult weather conditions
00:43across the U.S., something other chains also used as an explanation for their own struggles,
00:47as well as the competition and promotions offered by rival fast food restaurants.
00:51KFC, notably, isn't facing the same issues everywhere. China, for example, continues
00:56to thrive. Sales surged by 8 percent in that same time period, with China home to twice
01:02as many KFC restaurants as the U.S.
01:04For KFC to claw back the same kind of success on its home turf, Gibbs noted that it needs
01:09to try to replicate the tactics used elsewhere in its native country. He said,
01:14We know how to bring that brand to life to connect with consumers around the world, and
01:17we have to do a better job of that in the U.S.
01:20I'm Colonel Sanders, and I'm back, America. I'm back, America!
01:28The chicken scene is considerably bigger today than when Colonel Sanders started shilling
01:33meat at a roadside joint in 1930. As R.J. Haddavy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai,
01:39told Nation's Restaurant News,
01:41Chicken is a highly competitive space, more than it has ever been. It's a space I feel
01:45like people are looking for more variety, and they're getting it elsewhere.
01:48Most notably, Chick-fil-A has worked its way to the top of the poultry pyramid. Despite
01:53its disadvantage of closing every Sunday, it beat KFC to the number one spot of the
01:57top U.S. chicken chains by sales in 2014. While KFC managed to hold on to second place
02:03for just under a decade, 2023 saw Popeyes pass them as well. That same year, KFC sought
02:09its market share drop from 16.1 percent to 11.3 percent. And the competition only grows
02:15more fierce by the year, with the likes of Raising Cane's and Wingstop proving worthy
02:19contenders to potentially step into third place in the coming years.
02:24Shrinkflation is a tragic reality of 21st century dining. Nowadays, few chains can escape
02:29accusations of dwindling portion sizes that provide less value for customers while still
02:33bearing the exact same price tag — or sometimes costing even more. Customers have snapped
02:38pictures of multiple shrinking KFC items in recent years, with the fries attracting
02:43particular ire for allegedly using narrower boxes and not filling them to the top.
02:47The chicken hasn't escaped totally unscathed, either. Multiple customers have complained
02:52that the portions are considerably smaller than what they received in the past, with
02:56one alleged employee claiming that this stems back to the chain switching suppliers in 2016,
03:01and another alleging that each bird is now split up into 12 pieces instead of the former
03:06standard of nine.
03:08One Redditor photographed their chicken tender next to a soda can to demonstrate its minuscule
03:12size. One set it side-by-side with a quarter, and one chose to compare their chicken chunk
03:16to a pack of dipping sauce. Regardless of what everyday item is used as a makeshift
03:21measuring stick, customers have made their discontent pretty clear, with one writing
03:25of their tiny portion. Surely they're serving up mice at KFC now.
03:30"...it's finger-lickin' good."
03:32KFC's secret recipe is legendary, made up of a blend of 11 herbs and spices that was,
03:37at least at one point, locked up in a high-security vault at KFC HQ. This blend may have allegedly
03:43been leaked in 2015 by Joe Leddington, a nephew of Colonel Sanders by marriage, but the restaurant
03:49still keeps the key to its tasty chicken close to its chest.
03:52In recent years, however, customers have started to complain that this chicken isn't quite
03:56as tasty as they remembered. One disappointed Redditor wrote,
03:59"...I quit eating at KFC years ago because the quality kept going down and down and down.
04:04Switched to Popeyes or Publix, both of which have chicken that is vastly better than anything
04:09I've had at KFC in 20 years."
04:11This isn't a one-off complaint. Plenty of former KFC regulars have chimed in online
04:15to share similar frustrations. One Redditor wrote,
04:18"...always enjoy that first bite, then it's a steep decline for every bite that follows."
04:23And another disgruntled chicken enthusiast said,
04:26"...it used to be okay growing up, but they have since used cheaper ingredients to produce
04:30lesser quality food. I haven't eaten there in over eight years, and I never hear anyone
04:34saying how great it is."
04:36The only thing worse than declining quality is when that food also costs more. In recent
04:41years, many KFC customers have criticized the chain's prices. One Redditor wrote,
04:45"...KFC in my area is so good, but got expensive all of a sudden? $30 for 8-piece chicken family
04:51meal?"
04:53Judging by how many others have chimed in with their own similar sentiments, this seems
04:56to be one of the reasons why customers have started pulling away from KFC. As one user
05:01put it,
05:02"...I see KFC going under. Way too expensive. One of two in my area just closed and is being
05:06replaced with a Chick-fil-A. Other one is always empty."
05:09According to some employees, the reason why these prices have soared is because the profit
05:14margins have narrowed for the chain. Chicken has notoriously grown more expensive since
05:18the COVID-19 pandemic, with prices soaring at grocery stores nationwide. KFC certainly
05:23isn't alone in struggling in this regard. In general, fast food chains have felt pushback
05:28from customers about increasing prices amid the rising cost of living. However, increasing
05:33the overall price doesn't exactly help its case among customers.
05:37AI has proven divisive in pretty much every area, including chicken advertising. If one
05:43KFC campaign from April 2024 is anything to go by, the chain decided to pull the meta
05:48move of referencing artificial intelligence's difficulty in generating a standard five-fingered
05:53hand in an Instagram advertisement. That suggested the reason why it makes this mistake is because,
05:58quote,
05:59"...the more fingers you have, the more fingers you can lick."
06:02The restaurant encouraged people to jump on the bandwagon and generate their own AI hand
06:07image, posting it on social media and tagging KFC. It didn't go over well. KFC faced an
06:13onslaught of anti-AI sentiment in the Instagram comments. One commenter remarked,
06:17"...I didn't like the idea. It's awkward and disgusting."
06:21As is often the case with AI controversies, the overarching idea here was that using AI
06:26robbed a non-computer artist of a valid job opportunity, with one user commenting,
06:31"...imagine paying artists for their services."
06:33Whether it's due to outrage or just a general lack of interest, it was later noted that
06:37very few people actually participated in the campaign.
06:41The AI controversy wasn't the only marketing blunder KFC has made in recent years. The
06:46company has a reputation for wild marketing stunts, once requesting that Pope Benedict
06:50XVI bless its new fish sandwich, which he declined, not to mention their crossover with
06:55DC Comics. They even launched a chicken sandwich into space once. But ironically, it was one
07:01of their rare attempts to play things straight that got them in hot water in 2023.
07:05An ad campaign by KFC Canada saw customers ditching cutlery to eat chicken with their
07:10bare hands. However, the billboard version of this ad was called out for only featuring
07:14Black people eating fried chicken, which some saw as the brand utilizing racist stereotypes.
07:20One person wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter,
07:22"...so white people don't lick their fingers? I just know it's a Black person on the creative
07:26team like I knew this wasn't a good idea but they don't listen to me so I just clock in,
07:30do my work and go home."
07:32Tyra Jones-Hurst, managing partner at Oliver and founder and managing partner of InCrowd,
07:36campaigned Asia. While the commercial showcased real people sharing real moments,
07:40the billboards showcased only caricatures of Black ones. She added that these billboards
07:45"...dampened what should have been a cheeky and refreshing take on an old slogan into
07:49a classically harmful and stale stereotype for the Black community."
07:54Boycotts have played a significant role in the fast food industry in 2024. McDonald's,
07:58for example, was subject to boycott calls across Asia after a franchise announced that it would
08:03donate free meals to local hospitals and soldiers in Israel amid the ongoing conflict
08:07between Israel and Palestine. The chain has since seen a blow to its sales in the region,
08:12despite McDonald's Corporation issuing a statement to Time that read,
08:15"...the company is not funding or supporting any governments involved in this conflict."
08:20Similar boycott calls have affected KFC. In fact, in Malaysia, these calls have proven
08:25so effective that KFC Malaysia temporarily closed over 100 restaurants in May 2024
08:31due to what it described as challenging economic conditions.
08:34Boycott divestment sanctions Malaysia issued a list of businesses to boycott over their
08:39alleged connections to Israel, but clarified in June that KFC wasn't on the list. However,
08:44its chairman was quoted saying,
08:45"...many Malaysians perceive any American fast food operator to be related to Israel, including KFC."
08:51Two years earlier, KFC was hit by a separate scandal that prompted boycott calls,
08:56this time in China, after the chain started giving away limited-edition toys with some
09:00meals the China Consumers Association called for customers to abandon the restaurant,
09:05due to its encouragement of excessive consumption.
09:08You love Kentucky Fried Chicken, right?
09:10No.
09:11Customers have complained en masse about the disappointing service stolen out at KFC.
09:16While nobody enters a fast food joint expecting three-star attention,
09:19some have claimed that they didn't even receive the bare minimum. One Redditor wrote,
09:23"...literally every time I've been to at least six different locations,
09:26the service has been slow and the kitchen staff always seem to be behind, confused,
09:30and messing up orders."
09:33Welcome to Kentucky Fried Chicken. May I help you, please?
09:36Many online complaints echoed these same points,
09:38especially KFC's track record of providing inaccurate orders.
09:42Some sympathetic customers and KFC employees, however, point the finger at upper management,
09:47saying that employees on the ground level are overworked and underpaid.
09:50One alleged former worker wrote on Reddit,
09:53"...the bad service could be due to overworked, underpaid staff. We are very busy and constantly
09:58asked to do overtime up to the point that everyone is exhausted even when we're not busy."
10:02In 2021, a TikTok went viral when it called out a Las Vegas location for offering just $11
10:08per hour for a supervisor job. Employees have previously walked out of some restaurants in
10:13the fight for fair wages, while others sued a major KFC franchise, KBP Foods,
10:18in 2018 for not even paying the minimum wages they were owed.
10:23When you look at the overall numbers, KFC's restaurants are going pretty strong.
10:27Its total number of outlets has increased year-on-year since at least 2010,
10:31with an increase of 2,140 restaurants in 2023 alone.
10:36The company has still seen a number of restaurants shutter in recent years,
10:39however, which is a worrying trend despite overall growth.
10:43In August 2024, franchisee EYM Chicken shuttered around 25 KFC restaurants across Illinois,
10:49Indiana, and Wisconsin, leaving almost 100 employees without a job in Wisconsin alone.
10:55This followed a similar spate of closures in Louisiana in October 2023,
10:59when employees reportedly received no notice that their location was shutting down
11:03until it happened. California and New Jersey have both also experienced closures
11:08since the beginning of 2023. This trend isn't limited to the U.S. In June 2024,
11:1313 KFC stores, all of which were owned by a singular franchisee,
11:17closed their doors for good across the U.K.