Behind KFC's Marketing Meltdown

Customer realizes error, calls cops

(NEWSER) - A 21-year-old man just wanted some fried chicken, but when he left the drive-through of a KFC in Kansas and looked in his bag, it was instead full of money. Seems an employee had put the bank deposit into a bag, which another employee accidentally gave to the man in lieu of his drive-through order. After discovering the error, the customer called the police and was escorted back to the KFC, where employees had realized what happened and also called police, KMBC-TV reports. The police chief commended the customer for a "great example of honesty and doing the right thing." More»

Canna Cola looks for 'Snapple market' of THC snacks

(NEWSER) - Sure, there are marijuana soft drinks out there. But the world of "medibles"—snack products made with psychoactive doses of THC—is not that different from any other market in that it's not who does it first, but who does it best. And according to Clay Butler, the teetotaling, drug-free commercial artist tasked with branding Canna Cola, the competition is pretty sad: "You look at all the marijuana products out there, and they are so mom-and-pop, hippie-dippy, and rinky-dink," he tells the San Jose Mercury News . "If someone can put every color on the rainbow on it, they do. If they can pick the most inappropriate and unreadable fonts, they will. And there's marijuana leaves on everything." More»

What's up with the total lack of words?

(NEWSER) - The new Starbucks logo is here: Is it a disaster of Gap logo proportions ? Not quite, but critics are still a bit baffled:

• Why did they remove “those pesky words that say Starbucks Coffee?" wonders Meg Marco on the Consumerist . “Coffee, we assume, was the primary problem. Why? Because Starbucks is a fast food joint.”
• Maybe that’s true—but more importantly, Starbucks doesn’t want to be seen as a chain, Alissa Walker reminds us on Good . The company went so far as to open stores with completely different names that masquerade as independent coffee shops, after all. But will consumers really forget the name—“and all the baggage that comes along with it”—even though that green siren is so well-known?

Chain to open hundreds of restaurants in a dozen countries

(NEWSER) - Kentucky Fried Chicken wants to take over Africa. Like McDonald's and other fast-food giants, KFC parent company Yum Brands has been countering the slowdown in American spending with expansion overseas. Having populated China with KFC outlets, Yum now plans to double the number of stores in Africa to 1,200, the Wall Street Journal reports. KFC has had an outlet in South Africa since 1971, but Yum plans to open them, and sister restaurants, in Nigeria, Namibia, Mozambique, Ghana, Zambia, and elsewhere. More»

Retailer decides to stick with the classic

(NEWSER) - Gap is ditching that ugly new logo . Just one week after it unveiled the cheap-looking design, the retailer announced (on Facebook) that is has decided to stick with its classic white-on-navy look. "We've heard loud and clear that you don't like the new logo," the company said. "We've learned a lot from the feedback." The company also backpedaled from its original solution to the logo mess—crowd sourcing! "There may be a time to evolve our logo, but if and when that time comes, we'll handle it in a different way," said Gap's North America president. More»