Blog Written by Attorney Jean S. Martin

KFC and its parent company Yum! Brands, Inc. recently received bad news that four lawsuits against them would go forward.  This news is the latest setback stemming from a free meal promotion turned publicity nightmare aided, at least in part, by Oprah Winfrey.  In case you weren’t watching, back in May 2009, KFC introduced its Kentucky Grilled Chicken as a healthier alternative to its signature fried chicken.  Some bright marketing soul, who is probably long gone from KFC, decided that the best seal of approval would come from the queen of daytime talk shows  herself.  I mean, if she can do it for books, why not add KFC grilled chicken to the list of her favorite things. 

So they did just that and Oprah announced on her show that KFC was offering coupons for a free meal to promote its then-new grilled chicken and explained to viewers how to download the coupons from the internet, on either a KFC site or Oprah’s site.  Even though KFC printed more than 10 million coupons, the on-air announcement by Oprah, coming in the midst of an economic crisis in this country, stirred such an overwhelming response that KFC simply was woefully unprepared to handle.  Everyone loves a free meal, and in the face of economic turmoil, the coupon promotion could not have come at a better time for consumers and a worse time for KFC.

KFC has planned to run the free grilled chicken meal promotion for two weeks.  Instead, the promotion was shut down after two days because demand far surpassed supply.  KFC issued millions of rain checks to customers it was unable to serve during the promotion period, but the rain checks were not identical to the original coupon and required additional terms.  The refusal to honor valid coupons has subjected KFC to claims that of breach of contract, fraud and violations of state unfair trade practice laws.

Allegedly, 5.7 million people with valid coupons were denied free meals.  Since the meal offered in the coupon retails for $3.99, the resulting class action against the companies is worth more than $22 million.  KFC and Yum! Brands, Inc. had fought to dismiss these consumer claims, but a federal judge in Chicago recently ruled that the plaintiffs had set forth a “plausible claim” and is allowing the lawsuits to move forward.  In his ruling, the judge contends that KFC’s choice to have Oprah tout the promotion on her highly-rated and widely-watched show should have made the company aware of the demand it would face. As such, the finger lickin’ nightmare continues for KFC.  Stay tuned here, now that Oprah is leaving her show, for updates on whether KFC gets grilled, fried, fricasseed or freed on this one.