KFC 'colonel' dupes UN security. A man dressed as Kentucky Fried Chicken's "Colonel Sanders" gained access to restricted areas of the UN last Thursday, where he posed for pictures under the giant UN logo and shaking hands with the UN General Assembly president, Dr. Ali A. Treki of Libya. Only problem is, the real colonel died in 1980, as we adgrunts know. This is what you get for bring people back from the dead all the time, adland. Like Orville Redenbacher and the Jolly Green Giant, the Colonel will never die.
"It should not have happened -- that I will stress, and very strongly," said Michele Montas, spokeswoman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
"There was some lapse in security and the individual in question . . . was, on the initiative of one security guard, taken . . . into the UN."
This was a publicity stunt by the fast food chain, who dispatched the Sanders look-alike, identified by KFC as Robert Thompson, and also wrote to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asking him to register the "Grilled Nation" of grilled chicken eaters as the 193rd UN member state. The letter was signed by KFC president Roger Eaton, and the U.N Spokeswoman Montas warns that they will probably take legal action against KFC.
Kentucky Fried Chicken Colonel Sanders - Good Chicken! - (1979) :30 (USA)
For more of the Colonel way back then, see What's for dinner? and Sanders Home for our oldest KFC ads.
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Hahaha, I'm sure the real Colonel would hate this idea. wiki source
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PermalinkThis publicity stunt done by KFC might have gone too far in terms of breaching security protocol but I believe any publicity is good publicity.
What I find more concerning is how KFC was able to register “Grilled Nation” of grilled chicken eaters as a UN member state and a paid actor was able to enter the UN and shake hands with the UN General Assembly President.
I also find it funny how an actor was able to fool a security guard in to believing he was the real Colonel Sanders, the man who invented KFC, a man who died 30 years ago and would be well over 100 years old if was still alive.
The stunt didn’t harm KFC’s reputation; it succeeded in getting them press for their new grilled chicken sandwich which is what they set out to do. The only damaged reputation was that of the United Nations security. KFC isn’t exactly known for their healthy selection of food choices, they needed a publicity stunt of this calibre to spread the word about their new healthy menu. Any restaurant with the word ‘fried’ in their title is going to have a hard time rebranding as a restaurant that offers healthy selections. I think they deserve kudos for pulling that one off.
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PermalinkThis PETA spot I produced last year shows the "real" personality of the Colonel: A drug slingin', sadistic murderer (3 billion chickens a year, and counting!). Cruelty, no extra charge!
PETA - Beat Down - (2008) :60 (USA)
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PermalinkKudos to the master minds at KFC headquarters who spotted the stupidity on the UN's security staff. Who would've thought that the deceased Colonel Sanders would have come back from the dead to make an appearance at the UN "restricted" area and have time for a photo opt. Am I the only one who thinks this idea was genius, not only has KFC diverted attention from their fried, heart stopping, chicken in a box but now they have us thinking, hey don't they have that new grilled stuff out right now. Think im gonna try that tonight. Forget the UN; it's all about the Colonel right now.
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