Who moved my cheese and bean burrito?

“City gave pass to rathole KFC.” That’s a rough headline for any brand to endure, particularly KFC/Taco Bell. If the rats were introduced as a high-risk, high-reward PR strategy designed to make people forget about Taco Bell’s E. coli scare, well—mission accomplished. But really, there’s no messaging spin that could fix the problem. The video of the House of Rats on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan will live forever. (Some accounts say there were 50 rats. 5-0!) Yum! Brands need not bother reopening the restaurant—who’ll eat there? The company might, however, want to remove that sign proclaiming “We deliver.” And drop off a few dozen cats.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

February 27, 2007 | Permalink