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Diane Hess
Fried chicken is good for you! At least, that's what Yum! Brands(YUM Quote) is saying in new advertisements for its increasingly troubled KFC chain.
This week, Yum! is introducing national ads claiming KFC chicken is healthier than Burger King hamburgers. The television spots will highlight that a KFC original chicken breast has 19 grams of fat and 380 calories, compared with a Whopper, which has 43 grams of fat and 710 calories. "We want to set the record straight. Consumers should no longer feel guilty about eating fried chicken," said Scott Bergen, executive vice president at KFC, in a press release. "Consumers will be surprised to learn they can enjoy fried chicken as part of a healthy, balanced diet." The campaign follows a series of, so far, successful health initiatives at other fast-food chains, including Yum!-owned Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, as well as McDonald's(MCD Quote) and Wendy's(WEN Quote). But experts say fried chicken is an entirely different animal. "This is a very tough sell," said Howard Penney, an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. (SunTrust has a banking relationship with Yum!.) According to Penney and others, it may be more difficult to convince consumers that a big piece of crispy-skinned fried chicken is healthy, despite the new ads' comparisons to the Whopper. This could be sour news for Yum!, whose stock is up 40% this year and outperforming peers McDonald's and Wendy's. The company is already coming out of a difficult third quarter, during which the restaurant operator replaced the head of operations at KFC. Although earnings topped expectations in the third quarter, sales were flat and restaurant margins shrunk. In the fourth quarter, management has said that margins will erode again, as food costs are expected to increase and KFC sales are forecast to decrease.
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