Ever since the Chinese media reported the presence of an excessive level of antibiotics in the poultry suppliers partnered with KFC in mid-December of 2012, KFC sales in China has been going downhill. With the lowered sales, and increasing food chains offering Western fast food like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Pizza Hut, KFC chose to add more Chinese-style fast food to its menu, as mentioned in Kathy’s post. I agree with what Kathy wrote, that by adding Chinese products to its menu, its destabilizing its brand. Many of its customers are there for the Western experience, and KFC would be losing their USP if they start changing their menu to a Chinese one.
Just recently, however, KFC may be making a comeback with its October sales. As well, according to a brand-equity firm Millward Brown, KFC is ranked as the number one consumer brand in China, with McDonald in sixth place. This shows that KFC’s investment of almost one quarter of its total number of branches to be placed in China has been of some avail. It also looks like the negative blow on its brand image caused by the Chinese media last December as well as the bird flu epidemic in China earlier this year, is finally beginning to cool off. This might just mean that KFC’s miserable year in China is finally coming to an end.
Just on a fun side note, going back to the topic of incorporating Chinese culture into its brand image, I happened to come across this funny KFC commercial that was aired in China. Watching the commercial, one can see that KFC is really trying hard to put Chinese culture and western fried chicken together. However, the big irony of this commercial is that even though KFC has the main Chinese background music and costumes right, the ‘master’ in the video who was eating fried chicken, is a taoist monk and they are supposed to be vegetarian…(more the reason why KFC should not stray too far away from its western image.)
Sources:
Cooper, Ted. “KFC’s Awful Year in China Is Finally Coming to an End.”DailyFinance.com. The Motley Fool, 17 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
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