FINGER LICKIN’ CHICKEN MONSTERSEveryone likes a good story. Story telling is part of most cultures. Australia has had a long history of story telling - from Aboriginal Dreaming tales to outback country yarns. A lot of stories are just that - stories! When people begin to believe tall tales and interesting yarns they cease to be just stories and become urban legends and myths. Sometimes such stories are deliberately told to be believed, even though they are untrue, they become part of a collection of fraudulent tales and hoaxes. Such stories are usually told and spread at someone else’s expense or detriment. Often unthinking people accept such stories without question and help to spread them further - adding to the damage. Over the years we have exposed such ‘stories’ - hoaxes, frauds etc. The claim that Proctor and Gamble is a Satanic company is one such hoax we have alerted people to over the years. Early in the year 2000 we brought you details of another such ‘tall tale’. It’s been dubbed by some as ‘The Curse of Frankenchicken’. Spread over the ubiquitous Internet, this rumour warns that if you buy a meal at a KFC restaurant you won’t exactly get what you thought you were buying. Your meal may look like fried chicken, and even taste like fried chicken, but it’s really a ‘genetically manipulated organism’ so different from the real animal that the company can’t legally call it ‘chicken.’ Which, supposedly, is why Kentucky Fried Chicken ‘had’ to change its name to ‘KFC’ and the removal of all references to chicken. Emails, circulating the Internet since December 1999, are warning people against eating the genetically mutated monster meat and calling for a boycott of KFC restaurants. The following is an example of such an email: Subject: Boycott KFC KFC has been a part of our American traditions for many years. Many people, day in and day out, eat at KFC religiously. Do they really know what they are eating? During a recent study of KFC done at the University of New Hampshire, they found some very upsetting facts. First of all, has anybody noticed that just recently the company has changed their name? Kentucky Fried Chicken has become KFC. Does anybody know why? We thought the real reason was because of the "FRIED" food issue. It’s not. The reason why they call it KFC is because they can not use the word chicken any more. Why? KFC does not use real chickens. They actually use genetically manipulated organisms. These so called "chickens" are kept alive by tubes inserted into their bodies to pump blood and nutrients throughout their structure. They have no beaks, no feathers, and no feet. Their bone structure is dramatically shrunk to get more meat out of them. This is great for KFC because they do not have to pay so much for their production costs. There is no more plucking of the feathers or the removal of the beaks and feet. The government has told them to change all of their menus so they do not say chicken anywhere. If you look closely you will notice this. Listen to their commercials, I guarantee you will not see or hear the word chicken. I find this matter to be very disturbing. I hope people will start to realize this and let other people know. Please forward this message to as many people as you can. Together we make KFC start using real chicken again. KFC Executives are trying to reassure customers that there is no truth
to the rumour. There are blatant inaccuracies that contradict the stated
claims. The word, ‘chicken’, IS still used in KFC
advertising in the USA, Australia, Singapore, and around the world where
KFC is sold. The word ‘chicken’ also freely appears on the official
KFC Internet websites: http://www.kfc.com
and
http://kentuckyfriedchicken.com. The email hoax states that the
truth about the chicken monstrosities were uncovered ‘during a
recent study
The KFC company has issued a statement which can be viewed in full on their website. It states in part: This internet hoax is intended to destroy the trust that you have placed in KFC to provide high quality chicken meals at all of our restaurants. Although we hope that readers of the hoax will recognize it as obviously false, we take this or any other attack on the quality of KFC’s product seriously. Accordingly, we intend to identify and prosecute the originators of the hoax to the maximum extent permitted by law. |
of
KFC done at the University of New Hampshire’. However, Colette
Janson-Sand, Associate Professor of Nutrition at the University of New,
has stated that is a hoax, and that her department has received numerous
phone calls about the chicken rumour, some of them apparently fairly
‘hysterical.’ The university has published a rebuttal labelling the rumour
a hoax: 