Train wreck: Yum voids KFC free chicken offer

In all fairness, from a marketing perspective it was a very sound tactic -- what better way to generate trial for a new product than give away samples....YUM/KFC just did a sub-par job of anticipating demand and it was poorly executed...

Agreed John. Sampling is the BEST way to promote a new food product. But jeez, a national campaign on one of the most popular daytime TV shows and the affiliated website advertising free food during the nation's worst economic depression in years... what did they THINK was going to happen? How can you not see that coming? Then they have the gaul to run the You tube ad which in essence says,
"Hey we're really sorry for the great inconvenience, here's a few MORE hoops to jump through. "
I'm sorry, chain or not this was a very damaging campaign that will end up costing them customers in the long run.

[Robin Garr]

No harm, no foul, J. Nobody is beating up on you here ... we're glad you're here, and let's move forward.

As for smileys: I'm an English major, a writer and journalist. I like to think I can communicate well with words. I used to HATE smileys, because I regarded them as crutches that a real writer shouldn't need. Then after a few years of moderating online communities, I started to notice an interesting thing: Smileys WORK.

It's not really about writing skill. It's about communicating emotion in a medium where we don't have the visual cues that come with conversation ... tone of voice, facial expression, gestures and such. That's why I recommend them, even though I used to hate them. (And when the smiley function in the forum software broke for a couple of weeks recently, people really got upset ... )

Robin, there was no anger. I normally don't post on any sort of sites. I just believe that my dry sense of humor doesn't come across in print (obviously), maybe I should put some little smilies so people know when I'm just trying to get a little rise out of them. I never mean to offend anyone, which is surprising because apparently I can be pretty good at it.

This morning on What'dYa Know, during Michael Feldman's opening bit, he said:

(Paraphrasing) "KFC forced to pull free grilled chicken offer after Oprah keeps coming in."

Heh.