A Corporate Disgrace

“If customers order the Original Recipe variety, their Double Down will pack 540 calories, 32 grams of fat and 1,380 milligrams of sodium” … KFC

One of the great mysteries of life is America’s love affair with fast foods. It is almost as interesting as people who smoke even though they are aware that cigarettes can kill them. They stand in line to purchase an over-taxed, expensive product that even contains a label warning the buyer that this product can prematurely end your life. Somehow, someway, that rather frightening warning doesn’t seem to bother them.

Fast foods are in the same category although they don’t kill you as quickly. Basically, you and your children become obese and die from heart disease or something simple like diabetes. The government is so concerned they are forcing the fast food industry to display the calories on their menus in an attempt to educate the public to the dangers inherent in what they are feeding their kids. It’s not that the public can’t read; it’s that they don’t seem to care. If it tastes good, you eat it. If it kills you, so be it.

You would think the Fast Food industry would choose to stay under the radar and do as little as possible to awaken a public that continues to ignore the warnings that are basically everywhere. Listing the calories will do little to shake the aficionados of fast foods into any sense of reality. Their reality is in a Big Mac or a Whopper.

And now a new crisis has arisen. KFC has officially (and proudly) introduced the new and exciting Double Down sandwich that includes two slices of cheese, sauce and bacon sandwiched between two white-meat chicken filets. The calories are in the 500 range, but who counts calories when you’re having fun?

It’s obscene but who cares? We already know the parents don’t care, and we certainly know that KFC doesn’t care. We also know that little things like childhood diabetes are not dramatic enough to get people’s attention.

I repeat – it’s one of the great mysteries of life as we know it. KFC should be ashamed of themselves while they brag about a marketing success. Having said that, what else is new?