Eclectic Eats: Which “burger” is for you?

In an attempt to reverse a three-year sales slump, KFC China is trying out something new. No, they’re not giving anything away, and they aren’t offering any ‘buy 1, get 1’ coupons. No, some exec at KFC China hit upon the bright idea to-get this-dye their burger buns.

Now, if you’re like me, you’re probably asking a host of questions, such as:

Who puts ketchup on a fried (<—I almost always mis-type that as ‘friend’) chicken sammich?

Why is that unappealing looking ‘black diamond bacon spicy chicken leg burger’ sitting on carpet? Don’t they know what gets trapped in carpet?

How does the ad for the second burger-the “rose cheese chicken leg roasted burger”-benefit from including the rose petals? Thematically, I get it, but what do the petals add?

Why do the burgers have such cumbersome names?

Food in a restaurant never looks that good, so who do they think they’re fooling with those ads?

Why is this a good marketing strategy? I mean come on-they painted buns.

And, most importantly, why are chicken sammiches being called burgers?!

Nanfang offers some speculation about one of the questions above:

One media outlet is speculating that KFC is shrewdly borrowing some of the spotlight of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, a Japanese anime that is popularly received in China. Their theory is that the new KFC promotion is heavily based on black and pink in order to draw a connection to the show, whose two main characters use the same colors. See for yourself.

One thing I’m happy to see: the pink burger doesn’t appear to be marketed towards girls and women.

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Eclectic Eats: Which “burger” is for you?
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10 thoughts on “Eclectic Eats: Which “burger” is for you?

  1. 1

    AFAIK, food dye is quite popular in China.

    Or it is just something the people who run Chinese restaurants in Europe want to make us believe 😉

  2. 2

    WTF? I’m tempted to do some culture bashing here. I know that western advertising has become horrifically, dangerously sophisticated, but does the fact that what KFC is doing seems silly and naive make it any less successful? It would be interesting to know. Personally………. yuck.  :-p

  3. 5

    Von Krieger:
    Oh yeah. I saw that black burger earlier this year. It does not look appealing to me. It feels like such a gimmick too (just like the KFC burger bun dying), so I wonder if it will be successful.

  4. YOB
    6

    Well, the Chinese black burger doesn’t actually turn me off based on just the picture. One of my favorite sandwiches is the Schlotzskys Pastrami and Swiss and that is on a fairly dark bun.

    It’s a good thing that Japanese black burger wasn’t available in Texas during my Goth years.  It would have been all I ate. hehehe Nihilistic food, FTW! 🙂

     

  5. YOB
    8

    Tony:

    Naw, that was pre-blacksmith. It was worse. I was Lord Robin Steele, Master of the Rose, Guildmaster of Scouts, co-founder of the Lyceum, and Right-Hand of His Majesty Lord Draagon.

    yup. Ãœber nerd goth LARPer. How I found a partner to procreate with is a glorious mystery.

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