Would you like to show your political support in a “fun and fashion way?”
That’s how KFC is pitching a new line of T-shirts as the Democrats and Republicans prepare to nominate Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain as their presidential candidates.
Democrats eager to announce to one and all their political affiliation can order a blue T-shirt emblazoned with “Left Wing.” Like-minded Republicans can buy a red one that says “Right Wing.”
KFC hasn’t forgotten the undecided voters out there. They can buy one with the slogan “Left Wing, Right Wing: Tastes the Same to Me.”
Each T-shirt also features what KFC calls a “subtle retro” image of chain founder Col. Harland Sanders.
The T-shirts, available online for $15, also are being sold at three boutiques, in Chicago and in Tucson and Tempe, Ariz. KFC also distributed T-shirts to Young Republicans and Young Democrats of America nationwide.
Proceeds from the sales of the shirts will benefit KFC Colonel Scholars, which provides financial aid to college students.
I suppose people who buy the T-shirts can justify their becoming mobile KFC billboards by saying they’re only doing it to help needy students. On the other hand, they might be the type who always wanted a chance to show their political support in a “fun and fashion way” and are giddy with excitement that KFC is accommodating them.
But I’m baffled by something—more baffled than I ought to be by a promotion—and it’s that the terms “left wing” and “right wing” stereotype voters in each party who don’t consider themselves either wing.
Left wing assumes all Democrats are wild-eyed activists intent on opening the borders to illegal immigrants, raising the minimum wage to something like $48 an hour and pushing through a confiscatory tax on millionaires.
Right wing assumes all Republicans are eager to disband every child-welfare program, drill for oil even if the oil is underneath Arlington National Cemetery and start a war just for something to do on a lazy afternoon.
But there are moderates in both parties who don’t fit the stereotypes. I wouldn’t want to be dubbed left wing for voting Democratic or right wing for choosing the Republicans.
Besides, the true right-wingers don’t consider McCain one of theirs, and real lefties scoff at the notion that Obama is a left-winger.
I’m sure KFC didn’t intend to stereotype anyone, and if anyone accuses me of finding fault with a marketing promotion where no fault exists, I’d probably plead guilty.
That aside, this promotion is yet another one—and there will be more—that tries to encourage people to vote. Earlier this year I wrote about promotions that chains conducted during the primaries, tapping into what pundits described as an electorate whose political fervor was almost unprecedented.
That fervor was missing, though, at Hurricane Grill and Wings in Florida. In March the 30-unit chain tied in to the movement to hold new primaries in its state and in Michigan. Anyone who brought in a valid Florida voter registration card received a free Crispy Wing appetizer.
But the one-day promotion didn’t work. Redemption rates were low, and I was told that maybe Florida voters were disenchanted with the political system. So why should they even bother?
A marketing consultant I interviewed said politically themed promotions are nice public-service gestures but they don’t actually make people vote.
If KFC is hoping that the T-shirt promotion will lead to a higher voter turnout in November, I recommend that someone at the chain offer a novena to St. Jude, patron saint of lost causes, just to be on the safe side.
