Anyone hungry to learn about advetising? Double Down or Double think

KFC has given us, perhaps, a good place to begin our Introduction to Advertising course. The story goes that KFC is testing a sandwich they call Double Down that places two fried chicken filets on a single sandwich. Oh, and it includes bacon and cheese as well as some secret sauce. Yum, right? If this were a calorie contest the KFC Double Down would probably win over other fast food chains. But this isn’t about calories, fat, cholesterol and salt – all that rational stuff. This advertising campaign is titled, “Unthink,” because KFC is asking consumers to “unthink” what they know about sandwiches. So, perhaps the first place to start this semester is to consider the difference between thinking, which in advertising parlance refers to rational decision making, or as in the case of KFC, unthinking, which is another term for feeling. In advertising parlance behavior based on feelings is non-rational. The difference between the two—rational decision-making and emotionally based behavior—will guide you for the remainder of this course. Check out the commercial and let me know what you think. You can read the article here.