Posted on 01/26/2018 6:07:24 AM PST by EdnaMode
In commercials starting next week, the country star dons the Colonel's famous white suit and black tie.
The next Colonel Sanders is giving the character a little bit of "country music flair." KFC has picked singer Reba McEntire to play the founder of the fried chicken chain, the first female celebrity in the role.
In commercials starting next week, McEntire dons the Colonel's famous white suit and black tie, but with a twist.
McEntire's outfit has fringe on the back, and a glittery shine, giving the getup "a little bit of the country music flair," she told the Associated Press in an interview. McEntire sings onstage as the Colonel, with a white wig and white facial hair.
"I thought the transformation was really funny," said the singer, who will appear in the ads until the end of April. "I got a big kick out of it."
A rotating cast of famous names have portrayed the Colonel since 2015, but McEntire is the first famous female to do it, and the first musician. She may also be the first woman in KFC's nearly 90-year-history to depict the Colonel. The company said the "best historical minds at KFC" could not remember a woman having stepped into the role.
McEntire was approached about doing so in December. "I said, 'Holy smokes!,'" she told the Associated Press. "KFC has been a part of my life forever."
KFC said it picked McEntire because of her Southern roots, and to help promote its new Smoky Mountain BBQ, which combines fried chicken with a taste of barbeque. McEntire said she has eaten at KFC all her life, since her days growing up in Oklahoma.
She sings in the ad, in a tongue-in-cheek approach: "I'm Colonel Sanders, the same as always," McEntire croons. "I'm definitely not a woman." McEntire also appears as herself in the commercial, as an audience member.
Col. Harland Sanders, who died in 1980, first started selling fried chicken from a single restaurant in 1930. KFC, now owned by Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum Brands Inc., resurrected the Colonel for its ads in 2015 after a nearly 20-year absence, hiring Rob Lowe, Ray Liotta and other famous men for the role.
The ad was overseen by KFC's new chief marketing officer, Andrea Zahumensky, who is trying to continue a turnaround of the brand. "I think this is going to be our most-loved Colonel yet," she said.
No, they're just marketing Breasts!
Ridiculous. Wasn’t the real Col Sanders the guy who put the secret batter together and founded the KFC chain.
If they want to put a woman out front, that’s fine. But making her a faux Col. Sanders in drag is stupid.
“Why not Samuel L Jackson as the Colonel?”
Why not Samuel L Jackson auditioning as Christopher Walken for the Colonel?
I had to send this to the SNL head writer. I am still laughing. I think this would go down as one of the funniest skits ever.
I remember George Hamilton in a “B” movie comedy where he played Zorro as well as his gay brother. His faux Spanish accent was hilarious.
“Ju hwan me to geev my lahn to dah pipples?”
I wish I had one in my community. The KFC in my little town was the second one the Colonel opened. It’s still open but the chicken is awful. They have changed the recipe and the chicken looks like pigeons it has become so small and is cooked to the point of being burned. KFC has the highest prices and the food quality is in the crapper.
The local Food City super market makes a better fried chicken or Lee’s Famous Recipe.
I don’t think Reba is that busty!
Film Actors Guild
Never liked the guy. He wasn’t only creepy as Col Sanders.
Hmmm. Now which product contains more artificial material?
Well with one article you can clearly tell what it is, while with the Colonel you get a bucket of unrecognizable pieces and the one mystery piece that everyone is pretty darn sure is ass.
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