Oprah Winfrey is a very serious driving force for the power of television advertising. Her power was learned first hand by the chicken giant Kentucky Fried Chicken this past week. After Oprah offered her huge audience the opportunity to sample the new healthy grilled chicken for free, the throngs of Oprah minions overwhelmed them and they were unable to honor the coupons in full.
What is most intriguing about the chicken fiasco is that Kentucky Fried Chicken has been around the block a time or two. The company has been in business for a very long time, and one would think that the advertising department would have a clue about Oprah and her powerful audience. No way should they have been caught off guard by this, and especially based around a brand new healthy product.
Oprah is the poster child for all things weight related due to her own very public struggles with weight loss. As such, the television watching community listens with open ears to any endorsements that she makes when it comes to what is healthy or not. Was KFC not listening this time around?
After offering the coupons for a free two piece meal including the grilled chicken and two sides and biscuit, many of the stores flatly did not even honor the meal coupon at all. How is that possible? The company surely informed the locations of the Oprah coupons, and one would expect they would have ordered and prepared for the onslaught. It is still a bit unclear as to whether they knew and simply disobeyed, or they simply could not honor them due to product availability.
Since the coupon craze created by Oprah, Kentucky Fried Chicken has said that they intend to issue rain checks to those that were turned away, but I fear it is too little too late. Many people were angry at this situation. Some stood in very long lines only to be turned away empty handed. That is not fixed by Kentucky Fried Chicken simply saying they will honor them now.
As for Oprah, she will not likely be affected one way or the other. Pretty much anything that has to do with Oprah is considered golden, so KFC will recover in the long run as well. As for the grilled chicken itself, it is quite tasty and a great deal. The healthy aspect is sure to draw in plenty of people assuming that KFC keeps the price reasonable.
The lesson to be learned here is that it pays to do demographic research when offering such a coupon through a celebrity like Oprah. If Oprah is involved, then you need to order 100 times more product and be prepared for a huge onslaught of people. Kentucky Fried Chicken can certainly now attest to that.
