I spent two hours at my kitchen table ruminating over the dialogue choices that would make Colonel Sanders fall in love with me. So in my pursuit to better understand KFC’s brand strategy, I decided to court Colonel Sanders.
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“So it made perfect sense that, even in a dating simulator that features a younger (available) Colonel, he is focused on his world-famous Kentucky Fried Chicken.”Īs Jenny Zhang wrote for Eater, KFC has used video games as a vehicle for promotion before (it released an 8-bit game called Colonel Quest in 2015), but none has been as explicitly thirsty for its mascot. “Colonel Sanders was the original celebrity chef and would stop at nothing to sell his world-famous fried chicken, so we always want our activations to tie back to his real-life persona,” Zahuemsky wrote. I downloaded the kfc dating sim and it's? not that bad? just absurd? #iloveyoucolonelsanders /2Hg60XZEBN- gaby ᕕ(´・ω・`)ᕗ September 28, 2019 The animated “hot Colonel,” as he’s dubbed by fans of the game, panders to gamers, fans of Japanese culture, and anyone looking for love, Zahuemsky told me in an email.
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For football season, he’s portraying Rudy, the star football player in a sports movie of the same name. Revamping its mascot as an animated silver fox was a strategy “to make the Colonel a part of pop culture,” the company’s chief marketing officer, Andrea Zahuemsky, told the Wall Street Journal.Ĭolonel Sanders has always been KFC’s “north star,” and he has different personas for different audiences.
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The simple answer is that brands like KFC are tiptoeing into gameplay to attract consumers - to make them invested in a game tangentially related to what they’re trying to sell. This led me to wonder: Why did KFC venture into dating sims instead of opting for a cooking simulation game like Overcooked, where players prepared dishes in a restaurant? Why did the chain want players to pursue love with its mascot rather than directly interact with its menu items? The game - and by extension the brand - received plenty of interest for its outlandish, “can you believe it” premise prior to its release. There’s the love interest (Colonel Sanders), best friend, rival chefs, and a culinary professor that’s a talking dog. KFC promoted its game alongside a whimsical, anime-like introduction to its cast of characters, most of whom are unrelated to the fast-food chain. I’d never extensively played a dating sim before, but the more time I spent on Tinder and Hinge this year, developing a romantic connection with a virtual character sounded appealing - especially when they’re unlikely to ghost me. You date without emotional subtext and even if you mess up, you have the comfort of the restart button that’s a click away. The appeal of dating sims (unlike real-life dating) is that you’re expected to fall in love and relentlessly pursue the object of your affection.
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They’re games that are typically crafted in the form of a visual novel guided by a series of choices: Players can create their own adventures by selecting dialogue or physical actions from a list of options as the story progresses, which prompts certain reactions and responses from the virtual love interest. I’ve always been intrigued by dating sims, how the gameplay process facilitates intimacy between a person and their digital partner. Screenshot of “I Love You Colonel Sanders!”
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The game gives you no choice but to fall in love with Colonel Sanders. (The tagline claims that it’s a “finger lickin’ good” dating sim.) The goal is to woo a very handsome and very buff Colonel Sanders, and I - and at least 4,000 other players - couldn’t resist the challenge. To top off the fried chicken craze, KFC’s newly released dating simulator wants us to fall in love with Colonel Sanders.ĭeveloped by Psyop and released on September 24, the game “I Love You Colonel Sanders!” is a clear marketing stunt disguised as a fun romantic conquest. In August, our insatiable appetite for fried chicken (invigorated by the Popeyes versus Chick-fil-A controversy) created a chicken sandwich shortage: People stood in nearly hour-long lines, workers couldn’t afford to take breaks, and a Texas man even pulled a gun on a Popeyes cashier. America is engaged in a love affair with fried chicken.