Chicken riots at KFC!

The Oprah/KFC promotion for the chain's new grilled chicken item seems to be getting out of control. Ever since coupons were posted on the Oprah Web site, lines have stretched out the door at a number of locations, and some stores have either run out of chicken or are about to. And Sunday is Mother's Day, supposedly KFC's busiest day of the year (now that's a depressing thought). From Ad Age:

"The combination of free food and Oprah is a tsunami," said crisis expert Robbie Vorhaus. "Clearly KFC wasn't ready." He added to the adage that while one good customer can earn you another and one bad customer can lose you 10, one crisis of this nature can lose you 100 customers for every one turned away.

Of course don't underestimate the power of any publicity, good, bad or indifferent.

Gene Grabowski of Levick Strategic Communications argued that the events could even be spun into something positive -- that the product was in such demand that there wasn't enough to go around. "People will remember that the chicken was so popular, Oprah endorsed it, and there was a free giveaway," he said. "In the long haul, this isn't even as close to being as damaging as a crisis with cleanliness or contamination found in the food."

What's really pathetic is how people are being encouraged to eat food that's not exactly a health feast. Grilled chicken is somewhat preferable to the usual fried stuff, but Oprah's coupon covers not only the chicken but the choice of two sides (stuff like mashed potatoes and gravy and baked beans) and a biscuit.