I want to love Komen’s new cause marketing partnership with Kentucky Fried Chicken, Buckets for the Cure. I really do.
- The partnership is a cause marketer’s dream with 5,000 stores participating. Cause marketing programs work best with lots of locations and lots of foot traffic. KFC has both.
- 50 cents of every bucket ordered by restaurant operators (interesting how the donation isn’t triggered by customers buying buckets but by operators ordering them) during the promotion period (now through May 30th) will go to Komen.
- Komen is guaranteed a cool million. But KFC is hoping to raise over $8 million, the largest single donation to a breast cancer cause.
- The program also has lots of extras too, like pink buckets you can’t miss and lids with calls to action to get involved.
Bear with me while I collect myself…heading toward the light…too beautiful, too wonderful…. ZZZAAAPPPP!
That’s Scotty Henderson prodding me back to reality with his eye-opening post on Buckets for the Cure.
Sigh. It was lovely while it lasted. But, alas, Buckets for the Cure is a horrible promotion full of cause dissonance that strips it of charity and authenticity.
The Komen/KFC debacle is a warning to all cause marketers that money should never cloud our values, our goals or our common sense. As Scotty points out, the conflict between the fight against breast cancer that Komen champions and the fat-infested food that KFC sells is simply irreconcilable.
It’s like Deadliest Catch sponsoring Sea World or Smith & Wesson funding a rifle range at Columbine High School.
With 2400 calories and 160 grams of fat, a bucket of extra crispy KFC should include the wig you’ll need for cancer treatments after eating this crap for years.
Perhaps I’m being too harsh on KFC. After all, they do offer a grilled version of their chicken bucket that has fewer calories.
Chicken shit.
The same week as the Buckets for a Cure began, KFC rolled out the Double Down. Bacon and cheese wrapped in two fried chicken breasts. 540 calories, 32 grams of fat and 1,380 milligrams of sodium.
Come on, KFC, are you really saying you care about the well being of women with this beast? Not true, retorts the Colonel. The target demo for the Double Down is men! So we should feel better knowing that the Double Down is a widow maker?
Perched on my soapbox, let me conclude.
Why did Komen do it? For the money, of course, which will never be enough to educate women and others on the perils of fat-farms like KFC. Komen knew they would ruffle a few feathers with this promotion, but soon all will be quiet in the hen house.
This is America where money can justify any crime, wash away any guilt, sanitize any reputation and rationalize any bad idea.
As a cause marketer who loves to win and close deals, I understand why Komen wanted to work with KFC. The lure of seven-figures. The promotion. It’s intoxicating. You talk yourself into it. Would I have advocated a similar partnership within my organization? Maybe. But thankfully my colleagues and superiors have better judgement than I do. Komen, at least in this instance, has been blinded by its ambitions.
It’s a story as old as humankind. It’s when fool is most consumed by success that a fox steals in to the hen house.
[...] of the recent cause marketing campaign by KFC benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure. My old pal Joe Waters at the Boston Medical Center and his many commenters have stated very well the ethical dilemma that [...]
[...] Selfish Giving [...]
[...] blown away by the news — blogged by cause marketer Joe Waters — that Komen has made a huge nonprofit marketing mistake. The famed Race for Cure has [...]
[...] between KFC and Komen has received a cornucopia of negative press. Nonprofit blogs such as Selfish Giving and Getting Attention! have slammed Komen for “cause dissonance”- sacrificing organization [...]
[...] on the controversy, I suggest you read Scotty Henderson’s, Nancy Schwartz’s and my posts on the [...]
Joe, while discussing with a women at a research firm that we are working with this morning, she mentioned that the KFC-Komen deal could make some sense since KFC sells chicken "breasts".
She sounds like a real boob.
[...] you aren’t aware of what the controversy is about read these great posts by Joe Waters, Nancy Schwartz and Scott Henderson before you go on. The sheer number of comments on all of these [...]
[...] cancer. The response from Komen? Cricket. Cricket. Even KFC stepped up to the plate to comment on the cause marketing campaign. But zippo from Komen in these social media [...]
[...] saw the end of this session and Komen’s lame defense of their cause marketing pact with KFC. You already know how I feel about KFC/Komen. To hear how other attendees viewed it, check out these posts by Estrella Rosenberg [...]
[...] won’t help women with breast kitchen. The Komen/Kentucky Fried Chicken partnership is a bad example of cause marketing. There are many other good promotions that are making a [...]
[...] he was the one who prompted me to reform my wicked ways. Like the public outcry that followed the Komen/Kentucky Fried Chicken cause marketing pact, my chickens have come home to roost. At least I didn’t compound my error by deep frying my [...]
[...] Komen & KFC’s Cause Marketing Isn’t Finger-Lickin’ Good [...]
[...] also endorse products that contain known carcinogens. http://selfishgiving.com/causerants/komens-cause-marketing-program-isnt-fingerlickin-good __________________ Dr. Ralph Munoz – Professor, Biology 76 CJ5 & TRADED THE XJ FOR A ZJ! [...]
[...] hoards who contribute marketing muscle and hundreds of millions to their fight. But last year when Komen got caught in the chicken coop with Kentucky Fried Chicken suddenly nothing stuck, and, despite waves of criticism, Komen weathered the storm well. Groupon [...]
[...] who contribute marketing muscle and hundreds of millions to its fight. But last year when Komen entered a questionable relationship with Kentucky Fried Chicken, nothing stuck. Despite waves of criticism, Komen weathered the storm. [...]
[...] Komen Gets Into Trouble with its Purchase Triggered Donation Program with KFC [...]
[...] after Komen’s misstep in 2010 with Kentucky Fried Chicken and Buckets for the Cure, the program still raised $4 million and had [...]
[...] after Komen faced public backlash in 2010 through a marketing deal with the KFC restaurant chain, it still raised $4-million from the [...]
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation served KFC and sugary drinks at the Walk to Cure Diabetes events in the Bay Area last year. Talk about a slap in the face to the families with a child with type 1 diabetes. JDRF is the leader in diabetes research and should be setting better examples. If they don't, then why should anyone else? They should be made accountable for every corporate connection they make. It has to start at the top. Come on people!
[...] after Komen faced public backlash in 2010 through a marketing deal with the KFC restaurant chain, it still raised $ 4-million from [...]
[...] after Komen faced public backlash in 2010 through a marketing deal with the KFC restaurant chain, it still raised $4-million from [...]
[...] there’s nothing wrong with working with quick serve businesses like Popeyes. You may point to Buckets for the Cure to caution causes in their choice of partners. Please, there were many good, productive ways [...]
[...] the Mafia, but working with non-traditional partners that want to make a difference is okay. While Komen had its misstep with Kentucky Fried Chicken, fast food chains make excellent partners for cause [...]
[...] would sign on for such a pact. KFC showed it’s a bird of a different feather last year with Buckets for the Cure and the dreadful Double Down. It’s no surprise to me that they deep fried their reputation again, covering it with a [...]
[...] “welcome home” parties in local communities. Instead of the pink buckets that made so many people see red last year, let them see the stars and stripes with buckets that are red, white and [...]
[...] would sign on for such a pact. KFC showed it’s a bird of a different feather last year with Buckets for the Cure and the dreadful Double Down. It’s no surprise to me that they deep fried their reputation again, covering it with a [...]
[...] was just last year that KFC had a campaign with Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Buying a bucket of chicken to fight cancer was bad enough but isn’t this one even more mind [...]
[...] of the time Komen [“for the Cure”] joined forces with KFC to generate “breast cancer awareness” on the same week the fast food chain introduced the “Double Down,” a sandwich for which the [...]
[...] and cater “welcome home” parties in local communities. Instead of the pink buckets that made so many people see red last year, let them see the stars and stripes with buckets that are red, white and [...]
[...] the dreaded Buckets for the Cure in 2010, and, this past year, KFC’s crazy soda promotion for JDRF, this cause marketing [...]
[...] like the PR crisis Komen got themselves into when they partnered with KFC (yes, the fried chicken fast food restaurant) for breast cancer awareness, they’ve put [...]
[...] sell deep-fried chicken to raise money to cure breast cancer. They sue other nonprofits that use “for the cure” in any variation in their name. Now, [...]
[...] partners with Kentucky Fried Chicken for a “Buckets for a Cure” fundraising campaign. KFC is part of the problem. Even Komen’s own website urges women to maintain a healthy [...]
[...] one, they arranged a tie-in with KFC. Yes, that KFC. The one whose health implications are known for being potentially problematic, at [...]
[...] può essere favorevole o contrario a questo tipo di cause related marketing (qui ben descritto) che comunque per questa singola campagna ha fatto raccogliere 4,2 milioni di [...]
[...] game they’re playing has a lot more at stake than bragging rights. And this isn’t their first or even second offense. Now that Komen is down, I hope they stay [...]
[...] nonprofit, nor will it be the last, to step into a sugary and fatty quagmire. Komen faltered with Buckets for the Cure while Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation had its Mega Jug of Soda for a [...]
[...] nonprofit, nor will it be the last, to step into a sugary and fatty quagmire. Komen faltered with Buckets for the Cure while Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation had its Mega Jug of Soda for a [...]
[...] partnership with KFC gave Komen some percentage of special edition pinkwashed buckets. Pink, the color of fighting [...]
[...] Their partnership with KFC gave Komen some percentage of special edition pinkwashed buckets. Pink, the color of fighting breast cancer and promoting diabetes and heart disease. Hurray!!1 What an awkward decision for the foundation to make, is it justified to promote unhealhty food (which could possibly contribute to breast cancer and certainly contributes to other cancers and ills) in exchange for money to help hurting women? I mean, WTF, seriously? Komen later teams up with Alhambra botled water, a likely large contributer to BPA and other chemicals into our waer system and bodies. Is Komen a zealous advocate or blindly hurting anyone to get their way? [...]
[...] In a blog post, Joe Waters, co-author of “Cause Marketing for Dummies,” called the promotion a “debacle,” writing that “the conflict between the fight against breast cancer that Komen champions and the fat-infested food that KFC sells is simply irreconcilable.” [...]
[...] In a blog post, Joe Waters, co-author of “Cause Marketing for Dummies,” called the promotion a “debacle,” writing that “the conflict between the fight against breast cancer that Komen champions and the fat-infested food that KFC sells is simply irreconcilable.” [...]