At the Super Bowl…How much is a chicken dance worth?

I think we can file this under the “It will ruin the Super Bowl” category.

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), as part of a national promotion for its hot wings product, will donate $260,000 to a charity in the name of the first player who decides to do the wing flapping portion of the chicken dance for 3 seconds during the Super Bowl (this also applies to the first celebrity to do the dance on stage, as well). Honestly, I wouldn’t have to hear any more than this to know that this is already a horrendous idea. When is the last time that anyone did the chicken dance anyway? 1985? ’86? So before anything else, someone will be sacrificing all of their dignity just to get a paycheck from KFC.

Secondly, can we go over the players who may get a touchdown during the game? Most of the people potentially involved either wouldn’t want to be involved (Tom Brady & Eli Manning for example, are very picky about their endorsements in the first place) or they probably wouldn’t benefit enough from the publicity (Will Jabbar Gaffney be an overnight superstar if he does the chicken dance in the endzone? I think not).

Thirdly, did I forget to mention that whoever does it will probably be fined? From the Boston Herald,

“KFC is not affiliated with the NFL in any fashion, so this is a textbook case of ambush marketing 101,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. “There are many different companies that try to draft off the excitement of the Super Bowl that have no right to any of the activities going on.”

Players can celebrate during the Super Bowl as they typically do after scoring a touchdown, but any player who tries to incorporate a KFC product placement into the game could face fines.

Players can celebrate during the Super Bowl as they typically do after scoring a touchdown, but any player who tries to incorporate a KFC product placement into the game could face fines.

So, lets review…KFC is going to pay a little over a quarter of a million dollars to a charity for a player/celebrity who does the flapping part of the chicken dance. The player will get fined some amount of money by the NFL (probably more than usual since they’ve already issued the decree saying that anyone who does a dance will be fined) and half the people who could potentially score a TD probably don’t want to be associated with KFC anyway.

KFC’s marketing team probably could have thought this through a little better, yes? Yum! Brands, which owns KFC, has relied on crazy marketing schemes in the past (see the Taco Bell promotion during the World Series), but I will be very impressed if this one goes any further than talk and speculation.

Boston Herald: NFL: Players should duck chicken promo

Sports Biz w/Darren Rovell: Taco Bell’s WS Giveaway: What are the odds you’ll win?

Category: Football