KFC goes with the new-look Col. Sanders KFC is revamping its image. Sort of. The popular restaurant “unveiled a new brand logo Tuesday that includes bolder colors and a more well-defined visage of ... Colonel Harland Sanders, who will keep his classic black bow tie, glasses and goatee.” (Yes, this is the same logo that KFC was considering over the summer and that is now visible from space.) KFC’s Gregg Dedrick says the change “gives us a chance ... to make sure we stay relevant.” And as we all know, it’s important to keep one’s antebellum Southern gentleman hip with the times. He’d better have a backwards hat by 2010, or I take my business to Popeye’s. Along with the decades-overdue image shift, KFC is also bringing back the full “Kentucky Fried Chicken” name, perhaps conceding that Americans keep getting fatter no matter what cosmetic changes you make. Go ahead and call me underwhelmed by all the publicity. KFC really isn’t changing as much as backpedaling, and the money they’re wasting could be put to better use—namely, offering conclusive evidence that what they’re frying is actually chicken. And while we’re thinking of it, we’ll ask again: Just what are those 11 herbs and spices? —Posted by David Kiefaber

November 15, 2006 in KFC, Kiefaber | Permalink

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Comments

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lol hu posts a blog on kfc

Posted by: brandon hu | Nov 15, 2006 1:39:08 PM

does anyone else feel like it's weird that he looks like he's inside a bucket of chicken?

Posted by: | Nov 15, 2006 4:18:35 PM

I see it, but strangely it doesn't bother me. Although I noticed that he's kickin' it old skool with the adidas striped apron. The colonel workin' the register mutha plucker please.

Posted by: | Nov 15, 2006 4:58:56 PM

I think Harland was cooking or frying before he was coloneling. The apron is more natural to Kentucky than the suit. The outfit was built around the title. Read up what it means to be a Kentucky Colonel.

Other famous Kentucky Colonels:

Mae West, Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Will Rogers, Bob Hope, Pope John Paul, Joan Crawford, Fred Astaire.

Not that I back this use of making the logo that big.

Posted by: information please | Nov 15, 2006 8:00:43 PM

I appreciate the fact that they're going back to Kentucky Fried Chicken, I thought it was stupid of them to use KFC, like they were trying to force a nickname on you.

Posted by: Jake | Nov 15, 2006 8:12:23 PM

I think they actually changed the name to KFC in 1991-ish because Kentucky passed some revenue-collection law which stated that any product or brand with "Kentucky" in the name now had to pay royalties to the state for the use of the name. Kentucky Fried Chicken, the Kentucky Derby, and several long established brands were effected. Rather than give in and pay for something they'd already been using for 50 years, they changed it to KFC.

Posted by: Kevin McCauley | Nov 15, 2006 11:33:22 PM

That sounds better than attempting to be "cool".

Posted by: Jake | Nov 16, 2006 6:39:25 AM

To be blunt: Kevin's wrong. In his defense, however, it's not entirely his fault. That is a very, very lame urban legend. It began as "KFC changed their name because they couldn't prove it was chicken" and devolved into "because the state owns the word Kentucky." In reality, the KFC switch was "updating the brand" move, not a legally-inspired change. Trust me, I live in KY (the state, idiot) and there are PLENTY of businesses with Kentucky in there name. What should we re-name University of Kentucky?

Posted by: Corey King | Nov 17, 2006 12:53:14 PM

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