Another day, another re-branding effort for KFC.

For years they were Kentucky Fried Chicken. Then in the health-craze of the 90s, they ditched the ‘Fried’ and became ‘KFC’. Next they decided that they would advertise that eating their chicken was GOOD for you and would help you lose weight! That lasted all of 5 minutes(which was 5 minutes too long). Finally they became ‘Kitchen Fresh Chicken’. No wait, I forgot about ‘Chicken Capital USA’.

Whew.

Now it seems they have decided to say to hell with it, we are back to being Kentucky Fried Chicken. In their latest ad, a group of teens are kickin’ it on steps wolfing down a bucket of KFC, as an older man walks up. He announces that back in his day they didn’t have PDAs and MP3s and all that other crap, but they DID have KFC, but it was called ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’. The teen turns the bucket around and shows that it reads ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’. Their latest theme music ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ takes us out.

So KFC is back to making fried chicken. And playing southern rock n roll. In other words, the Yum! Brands offering appears to be trying to return to its roots: Selling good old fashioned southern food.

The big question is, will the new ads/image extend to the restaurant itself? Will the menu be pared down to focus more on southern food, which is where KFC got started? Paring down the menu definitely helped Hardees, so why can’t it work for KFC?

It can, and probably would. Which means Yum! likely won’t try it.

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