031112 Fried Chicken: Part of a Healthy Diet?

Can fried chicken actually be healthy and help America lose weight?

Critics are crying "fowl" over two new KFC television ads, saying that they seek "to persuade the public that they can enjoy fried chicken as part of a healthy, balanced diet."

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has filed a complaint about KFC's ads to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The CSPI is asking that the nationally run ads be taken off the air, saying that the ads are deceptive and misleading.

"KFC's ads are so outrageous that an experienced observer of the advertising industry has characterized them as 'naked nonsense,'" writes Michael Jacobson, CSPI executive director, in his letter to the FTC.

"KFC takes what could be a perfectly good food, and makes it almost as bad for you as possible, short of covering it in melted cheese or cream sauce," Jacobsen says in a news release. "These ads don't tell the truth. These ads take the truth, dip it in butter, and deep fry it. Colonel Sanders himself would have a hard time swallowing this ad campaign."

Fat, Sodium, and Cholesterol

In one ad, a bucket of KFC fried chicken is presented as one couple's attempt to begin "eating better," says the CSPI release. A bucket of fried chicken has 3,090 calories along with "vast amounts" of saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium, the CSPI adds. Most KFC outlets fry chicken in hydrogenated shortening, which results in harmful trans fats, says the CSPI.

The ad displays nutrition information for smaller amounts of fried chicken, including -- "laughably," says the CSPI -- pieces with the skin removed.

A second ad gives the impression that eating fried chicken is responsible for a man's "fantastic" looks, presumably due to weight loss, since the ad indicates that fried chicken is for those who are "watching carbs," according to the CSPI.

Both ads flash "brief, tiny, low-contrast, and virtually illegible" disclaimers "confessing" that fried chicken "is not a low fat, low cholesterol, low sodium food," says the CSPI.

Source: WebMD Medical News

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