In an effort to make the most generous donation ever to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer fund, KFC is running a national advertising campaign called “Buckets for the Cure.” For every pink bucket of certain types of chicken, 50 cents will be donated to the cause. [The commercial, originally below, has been removed from YouTube.]
The clear impression created, at least to MrConsumer, is that for every bucket SOLD to CUSTOMERS, 50 cents will be donated. Go back and listen again. It just says “For every bucket,” leaving you to fill in the blank, most likely by adding “sold to customers” or “bought by customers”. But alas, there is fine print, the last line of which reads:
*MOUSE PRINT:
“Customer purchases of KFC buckets during the promotion will not directly increase the total contribution.”
Huh? The rest of the fine print explains that KFC store operators buy the pink buckets and that it is THEIR purchases of empty pink buckets that trigger THEIR giving 50 cents each to Susan G. Komen.
A spokesperson for KFC explained that donations are made at the time the individual restaurant operator purchases the pink buckets, and that since those are the only buckets that will be available to them during the promotion period, consumer purchases of pink buckets will actually but indirectly affect the total donation.
There is just one problem. Some of the other fine print in the KFC commercial says:
*MOUSE PRINT:
“KFC restaurant operators have contributed 50 cents the Susan G. Komen for the Cure for Komen branded bucket purchased by the operators from April 5, 2010 – May 9, 2010.”
But, on the Susan G. Komen site, the expiration date of the offer for customers to order chicken in pink buckets is three weeks later.
*MOUSE PRINT:
“The pink buckets will be available through May 30, or while supplies last.”
KFC told Mouse Print* that it intends to continue to advertise this promotion after May 9 (until May 23), presumably still saying “together, we can make the largest donation in Komen history”. The problem is this as we see it: consumers could easily be misled into believing that their purchase during that period is increasing the amount of money going to the breast cancer fund when in fact it is not, either directly or indirectly. Remember, the actual donations will have ended on May 9. Not many TV watchers will catch the fine print disclaimer that would instruct them about that fact.
In regard to this, the KFC spokesperson said:
“The voice-over in the commercial states, ‘For every pink bucket of grilled or original recipe, KFC makes a 50 cent contribution to Susan B. Komen for the Cure.’ That is, of course, entirely true. And then, as you pointed out, the additional details are in the legal copy on the commercial and on the bucket.”
What KFC ignores is the concept of “net impression”. What is the net impression that consumers will take away from the commercial? As noted above, we suggest that most consumers are likely to believe their purchase will help the cause. Why else would KFC continue to advertise a charitable tie-in unless it too believed this will help spur consumer sales (and put KFC in a favorable light in customers’ minds)?
There is an advertising regulation in Massachusetts that says, “An advertisement as a whole may be unfair or deceptive although each representation separately construed is literally true.” That may well be the case in this instance.
But isn’t the object here that the money goes to the charity? That does appear to be happening. Presumably, if the stores believe that more customers will order the buckets based on the charity, they will in turn order more buckets. Who’s really hurt by this?
Dave, after May 9 no matter how many pink buckets they sell or buy they charity gets $0 yet, the advertisement continues until May 23. You don’t see anything wrong with that? In addition, contributing to a breast cancer charity at the expense of my arteries makes even less sense to me!
Peter, I see no issue with it. The difference in dates is because the stores can order them until May 9th. Do you actually think that the stores that buy them on that date will have sold all the buckets on that day?
Actually, I think this is really good for the cause. If the store ordered too many buckets and couldn’t sell all them, the money has ALREADY gone to the cause. In other words, say the store ordered 10,000 buckets. The cause got 50 cents for those 10,000 buckets. If they were only able to sell 6,000 of those buckets, well, the cause still got the 50 cents for all 10,000.
This is why I contribute directly to a charity. Too often we, as consumers, are misled as to exactly how much is being donated to any given charity-if the promotion is even legit. Also, you must do your homework when it comes to any charitable giving at all times. You must investigate how many cents on the dollar is exactly going to the charity vs. the organization’s salaries, overhead, misc. costs. Another way to contribute is to volunteer your services.
This is far better than the normal fine print where they put a cap on the donation even as consumers continue to spend thinking a donation is made.
Melissa, I believe the point Edgar was making is that customers are let to believe they are somehow donating 50 cents for every pink bucket the purchase until May 23 when in fact it is the restaurant operator making the donation NOT the customer. I see a big issue with that.
I believe the consumer does directly affect the amount of the donation. Franchise owners who don’t sell many pink buckets won’t order any more next year.
Also, since most KFC restaurants are franchises, it would be a logistics nightmare to collect the donations from each franchise holder, and there would be little incentive to keep franchise owners honest. KFC is doing its part to make sure the money intended for the charity goes to the charity, and not a fudged ledger in the restaurant’s back office.
All in all, while I can understand some of the commotion from the wording in the commercial, I feel the intent is still there.
There is another small point in the fine print that should be highlighted in the article as well, but isn’t.
There is a listed minimum donation of $1,000,000 (1 million dollars), but there is no listed maximum.
How many times have we covered stories of pink ribbon items where there is a maximum donation of ~ $250,000
Nice catch, Chris.
I think it’s okay. If, trying to be charitable, the restaurant owner buys the pink buckets, then they
of course need to count on us, the consumers, to buy them in turn, and rely on the marketing ad. Yes the ad
is not completely transparent, but it’s all for a good cause. If we, the consumer, don’t buy the pink bucket,
then the franchisee is left holding the bucket, all for trying to support a good cause with our help.
Komen and their pinkification of every damn thing is a ripoff. You’d be better off donating to Breast Cancer Action:
http://www.bcaction.org/
http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/
I have mixed thoughts on this one. I can understand KFC’s point of view, can you imagine each operator having to account from an accounting perspective the pink buckets? What if someone rang up a pink bucket but gave out a red one? I think handling it on the store operator level was better from a financial perspective. The flip side is they could have conveyed it in a different way or done a completely different promotion. I think this is one that leaves me scratching my head – it was a good idea on it’s face and good execution but lousy communication. I think at the end of the day, the biggest benefit will not be financial but will be awareness, it’s an incredible marketing score for the Susan G. Komen Foundation to reach an untapped market to build awareness….and maybe that’s what this whole thing was truly about.