February 5, 2012
KFC Canada
101 Exchange Avenue
Vaughan, ON
L4K 5R6
Attention: Director of Marketing
Re: Inappropriate Advertisement
Dear Sir / Madam:
I am writing to you regarding your current advertisement of a menacing and jealous spouse confronting a male sales person on the cost of a KFC family meal. The premise of the advertisement appears to be two-fold, (1) The family size meal is affordable and (2) The man is made to look foolish which is a feeble attempt to put some humour to the allegation and into the sales promotion.
What appears to have been overlooked, not considered or disregarded is that menacing and jealous men harm the women in their lives. Had this advertisement been given serious consideration prior to approval and airing it would have possibly been considered as offensive and degrading to battered and abused women and the children who are subjected to witnessed the abuse on a regular basis.
The scenario scene behind your advertisement would be that a woman returns home, either offers or is asked how much she paid for the family meal, is not believed, possibly yelled at, threatened or assaulted and accused of having an affair with the sales clerk. In a rage of anger the spouse leaves the home and an upset wife and children behind to confront to the person he falsely believes is having an affair with his wife. Regardless of the fact, he has been proven to be wrong, it would be doubtful he would apologize to his victim. The woman certainly would not want to be further embarrassed by returning to the KFC store, exposing herself as a victimized woman, therefore it becomes loss of revenue for KFC.
The ad is offensive and degrading to abused women who have insight and first- hand knowledge of the above scenario. Stat’s Canada will confirm that 1 in 4 women are or will be abused in their life-time and that a woman is most prone to becoming a homicide statistic after she leaves an abusive spouse. Please refer to my website and the Memorial link for a sampling of these senseless deaths.
It would be appreciated if you would give serious consideration to the above information, remove the ad immediately, and make a public apology for it being inappropriate. This letter and a reference to it will be posted on the above website and will be circulated to other advocates / groups for their consideration.