In the age of social media, fast food companies have been forced into tussling with the online rumour mill.
What might, at first, start as a silly conversation between friends can, in the matter of short few Tweets, spread across the world.
And as shown by the proliferation of fake news, misinformed statements can sometimes concretise into alternative facts.
Back in 2013, McDonald’s launched the ‘Our Food, Your Questions’ campaign, which sought to address many of the urban legends swirling around the brand. In the ensuing months, everything from worm meat to pink slime was up for discussion as the brand attempted to show that its food wasn’t quite as bad as the rumours suggested.
As it turns out, McDonald’s isn’t the only fast food brand combating malicious rumours. This month, KFC launched a new campaign, featuring the trusted faces of The Block NZ season two contestants Pete and Andy Walker, learning “11 secrets” about KFC.
As the write-up under the first clip explains: “If Colonel Harland Sanders could hear some of the rumours doing the rounds on the internet about his famous chicken, he’d be rolling in his gravy. To put that chicken chat to rest, we’ve found 11 KFC secrets that we can actually share.”
The first of the 11 so-called “secrets” addresses the internet rumour that the company sources its chicken from “Illuminati mutant chicken farms” by showing that franchises have fresh chicken delivered six days a week.
From there, KFC takes the viewer on something of an ingredient journey, showing how everything is made (when a camera crew is watching the team’s every move).
Whether this helps to dispel all the rumours is yet to be seen. But even if it does, you can always count on the internet to come up with a few new outrageous claims before long.
