Kentucky Fried Chicken: Encyclopedia II - Kentucky Fried Chicken - Controversy

Kentucky Fried Chicken - Controversy

On October 16, 2003, Playboy model and actress Pamela Anderson joined PETA in their animal rights campaign against KFC urging consumers to boycott the franchise until better treatment of its chickens is ensured.

On June 3, 2004, the FTC and KFC came to a settlement regarding KFC's advertising campaign claiming that "fried chicken can, in fact, be part of a healthy diet." The terms of the agreement were not disclosed; however, the TV commercials stopped airing after the settlement. [1]

On July 20, 2004, PETA released a video of cruelty to chickens taken at Pilgrim's Pride, one of KFC's suppliers in West Virginia. The supplier stated that it would investigate the claims. [2] Pilgrim's Pride fired eleven employees following the release of the video and provided animal cruelty training to its work force, however, none of the employees involved in the incident faced any criminal charges. [3] PETA's undercover investigation can be seen at KentuckyFriedCruelty.com

In late 2005, Pamela Anderson and PETA arranged to send videos showing animal cruelty in KFC's manufacturer's companies to every manager of a KFC in the UK. On the morning of their arrival every manager received a communication to put the video into a bin without even opening the envelope.

In December 2005, a PETA staff member formerly known as Chris Garnett changed his name to Kentucky Fried Cruelty.com as a means of protest.

On January 26th 2006, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher flatly refused Pamela Anderson's PETA-backed demand to remove a statue of Colonel Sanders from the Kentucky Capitol Building.

Some countries have discovered that the MSG levels in KFC foods exceeded their regulations (such as India). Some scientists believe that MSG is a health hazard, and KFC was often put on the top of high MSG foods to avoid (an average 2% MSG was found in most analysis). However, the health hazard claims against MSG often proved unfounded, except for the fact that some people are sensitive to MSG and should avoid it (as well as a number of foods in which MSG is naturally occuring). Some facts and opinions about MSG are controversial, as one can observe reading about it.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Controversy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki