By Brian Meyer
The Buffalo News
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Colonel Sanders’ friendly face will likely grace city firehouses soon, but his presence will be limited to a month or so.
Buffalo lawmakers are poised to approve a plan today that would allow the city to accept a $2,500 donation from KFC to buy 100 fire extinguishers.
The extinguishers would bear KFC’s “New Fiery Grilled Wings” logo along with Colonel Sander’s familiar image.
The deal would involve the city placing the extinguishers in firehouses for several weeks, just as visitors come in for events commemorating Fire Prevention Month. The devices then will be donated to individuals, using a distribution method that the Fire Department has yet to divulge.
Majority Leader Richard A. Fontana, who represents the Lovejoy District, said he thinks he has enough Council support to approve the deal. But the unusual promotion has its detractors. South Council Member Michael P. Kearns said he worries that the agreement sets a troubling precedent.
“What if Rick’s Tally Ho wants to advertise?” Kearns asked, referring to a strip club in Cheektowaga that recently lost its liquor license after a raid by police and federal agents.
Kearns added that he might be more inclined to support the promotion if KFC wasn’t giving “chicken feed” in return, claiming $2,500 in fire extinguishers is a chintzy sum.
Delaware Council Member Michael J. LoCurto, meanwhile, said he was not impressed with KFC’s offbeat promotional schemes. The world’s most popular chicken restaurant chain recently donated money to a small city in Indiana that agreed to display KFC’s fiery wings logo on its fire hydrants.
More recently, KFC made a promotional push on the backsides of college students. The company recruited young women to tout its bunless Double Down sandwich by wearing sweat pants with promotional messages displayed on the rear ends, a move that has angered some women’s rights advocates.
“What’s next?” LoCurto asked Monday. “Are we going to let KFC do the same thing to our firefighter uniforms?”
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