Healthy Skepticism Library item: 10

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Wilde Mathews A, Steinberg B
FTC Examines Health Claims In KFC's Ads
The Wall Street Journal 2003 Nov 19
http://traynota.blogspot.com/

Full text:

Can fried chicken be called health food? The Federal Trade Commission, for one, is skeptical.

The agency is investigating recent television commercials from KFC that implied its products could help consumers eat more healthfully and lose weight.

According to people familiar with the matter, the FTC sent a civil subpoena asking the chain to explain and justify the health claims in the ads. The spots tout KFC chicken breasts as less fatty than a Burger King Whopper and say that KFC’s Original Recipe chicken can work well in a low-carbohydrate diet.

FTC SCRUTINY

A KFC spokeswoman said the chain is “concluding this promotional period on Friday and getting ready for the next promotional period,” which would have new ads. The spokeswoman declined to elaborate on why KFC is moving to new ads, or whether the switch had been planned previously. The health-claim ads “simply set the record straight by providing consumers the facts about KFC’s Original Recipe fried chicken and how it can be part of a balanced diet,” she said.

An FTC spokeswoman declined to comment.

The move by the FTC is one of the government’s most aggressive actions so far as politicians and regulators seek ways to combat the growing problem of obesity in the U.S. It also may take a bite out of one of the food industry’s most popular marketing messages — healthier fare. McDonald’s Corp. just announced it would sell a white-meat version of its Chicken McNuggets, as part of “a continuing effort to encourage healthy active lifestyles.”

The campaign by KFC, a unit of Yum Brands Inc., Louisville, Ky., already had drawn attention. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer group, sent a letter to the FTC earlier this month complaining that the ads were “outrageous” because KFC’s fried-chicken meals are “unhealthful and clearly difficult to fit into a healthy, balanced diet.”

The two ads were supposed to represent a new step for the chicken chain. Announcing them in an Oct. 28 press release, the company said it was “setting the record straight — fried chicken can, in fact, be part of a healthy diet.” An executive was quoted in the release saying “consumers should no longer feel guilty about eating fried chicken.” The ad campaign was created by Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Foote Cone & Belding, the agency KFC hired in September.

The government inquiry about the ads could mark a rough start for KFC’s new leader. Gregg Dedrick was named U.S. president of KFC in September, with a mandate to restore same-store growth at the chain. In the four-week period ended Nov. 1, KFC’s U.S. same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, were flat.

One of the KFC ads under government scrutiny shows a young man doing a double take after noticing an apparently slimmed-down friend: “Is that you? Man, you look fantastic! What the heck you been doin’?” Through a mouthful of the colonel’s finest, the friend answers, “Eatin’ chicken.” An announcer chimes in, bragging about the 11 grams of carbohydrate and 40 grams of protein in one KFC Original Recipe chicken breast. “So if you’re watching carbs and going high-protein, go KFC!” he urges. The spot’s tag line: “For a fresh way to eat better, you’ve gotta KFC What’s Cookin’!”

The other ad shows a woman arriving home to her male companion. “Remember how we talked about eating better? Well, it starts today,” she says, bringing out a bucket of KFC. The announcer then explains that two Original Recipe chicken breasts have less fat than a Whopper, or consumers can “go skinless, for just three grams of fat per piece.”

In both ads, small white print at the bottom of the screen flashes the message that “a balanced diet and exercise are necessary for good health.” Later, in the ad with the two men, the small-print message notes that KFC is “not a low fat, low sodium, low cholesterol food” and that a 12-piece bucket contains legs, thighs and wings, as well as breasts. In the other spot, which emphasizes fat more, the fine print notes only that KFC is “not a low sodium, low cholesterol food,” leaving out the fat. It also says that the Whopper comparison is “comparing edible portions, 2 Original Recipe breasts 38G of fat, Whopper 43G of fat.”
WEIGHING IN
A nutritional comparison of KFC’s Original Recipe chicken breast and Burger King’s Original Whopper:

KFC BK
Serving (g) 161 291
Calories 380 710
Fat (g) 19 43
Sat. fat (g) 6 13
Chol. (mg) 145 85
Sodium (mg) 1,150 980
Carbs (g) 11 52
Source: company Web sites

According to KFC’s Web site, one Original Recipe chicken breast contains 380 calories, and 19 grams of fat, or 29% of the suggested daily value. It also has six grams of saturated fat, or 30% of the daily value. It also had 48% of the recommended daily value for both cholesterol and sodium.

The Burger King Web site lists the original Whopper as having 710 calories and 43 grams of fat, including 13 grams of saturated fat. A spokeswoman for Burger King Corp., owned by a group of private investors led by Texas Pacific Group, declined to comment on the KFC ads.

The FTC will likely explore whether the overall message could have misled consumers, partly because KFC’s disclaimers were small and hard to read. Typically, the agency judges whether the ad’s “net impression” with consumers is accurate and complete.

Still, if the agency decides on legal action, it may be difficult to prove the ads were misleading. For one thing, the chain’s claims of health benefits were relatively vague — for instance, the ads didn’t say consumers would lose a certain amount of weight by eating the company’s products. KFC’s use of fine print and added disclosure shows the chain is aware of consumers’ sensitivity to the issue of obesity, says Doug Wood, a partner at Hall Dickler Kent Goldstein & Wood, a New York law firm specialized in marketing and advertising law.

The FTC has been closely monitoring weight-loss health claims in ads. The agency has already gone after a series of companies selling dietary supplements and other products promoted as miracle weight-loss cures.