KFC Lowers Already Low Grammar Standards
by wrylilt
Where is good grammar going? A look at the new KFC campaign using the words good, gooder, gooderer, gooderest and goodest.
I was genuinely shocked to see the red text as I drove past the billboard - the words gooderer and goodification stared down at me from the KFC advertisement.
I've seen accidental typos or created words before, but never any that purported to be normal and correct English. And TEAL (Typo Edification Advancement League) has had a good hand in removing the most public accidental ones.
What is the point of teaching children correct grammar, syntax and past & present tenses if their lessons are quickly overwritten by adverts?
It got me thinking....
KFC advert featuring 'gooderer' and 'goodification'.
These days grammar seems to be an optional addition to the average sentence - whether it's spoken, written, or more commonly, typed or texted.
Grammar, although seen as boring and unneeded by the average school child and even the average harrassed adult, actually forms a cornerstone of our communication.
A misplaced word or comma can easily result in a completely misunderstood message, and even go as far as to convey the complete opposite message as that originally intended, to the recipient.
 Punctuation & grammar can change a se... |
Large Companies Have Responsibilities
Large companies want their advertising to reach as wide an audience as possible.
And to do that they need to integrate their slogans, jingles and inside jokes into our everyday life - something that they're becoming increasingly good at through a variety of blatant mediums.
Large companies have a moral responsibility and even an obligation not to lower the standards when it comes to promoting better education, healthy food and appropriate content.
Being a large influential company means that they need to be more careful in their choices, not be given a free hand to change things as they wish, or as long as they find a reasonably sized loophole.
It's rather ironic isn't it, that KFC offers college scholarships yet happily butchers the English language to gain customer attention?
Terms, Conditions & Disclaimers
It's not unusual in this current era rort with potential lawsuits, to see subscript on almost any public notice, explaining that the activity should not be copied, required outcomes may vary and no responsibility can be held.
Why isn't there such a notice on KFC advertisements, alerting viewers to the fact that the words are actually not correct English? Is the English language not as important because it doesn't have a legal defender?
 KFC gooder and gooderer, gooder for g... |
So please KFC, don't make a parent's job even harder. It's difficult enough already to make kids eat good food and learn good manners - don't make it impossible to communicate with them on top of all that.
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
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| Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Toler... |
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Comments
I've had some interesting experiences in KFC in China. Maybe I should write a Wizz about them!
My five year old son would recognize this as a grammatical joke. It works precisely because we know it's incorrect. It's healthy to play around with language.
I agree with Jimmie. I was raised not to believe anything corporations told me in advertizing, so they never had a lot of impact on me. My mother probably would probably lectured me on the nutritional value of the food and told me we were never eating there anyways.
I am a grammar Nazi, but this doesn't bother me in the least. This is merely a catchy advertising slogan.
Thanks for the suggestion, Sam & Petunia, I've added it in. =)
I agree with Sam - "Eats, shoots and Leaves" would be great on this page! Sadly, the schools no longer see grammar as a priority. We are entering a new age of ignorance. In our school district, cursive writing is not taught anymore either. We are going to have an entire generation of kids who cannot sign their names. Sad indeed.
I am with Wrylit on that one, the influence such billboards have already on the subconscious is big enough, even without bad grammar and typos. I see school children defending there homework with the words 'But KFC said that gooder is a real word!' BTW, my favorite book on the subject is called 'Eats, shoots and leaves!', you might want to include it here ;-)
So because it's a joke, it should pass into common usage?
Kind of weird that someone who claims to understand grammar so well can't understand a grammatical joke.
For you see my good friend, it's a joke because it's ungrammatical, If it wasn't it wouldn't make sense.
"At KFC we've decided to make things better! At one end of the scale you have good, then better, then best!"
Wow, compelling copy there.