The Real Colonel Sanders: More Than A Fast-Food Icon

Josh Ozersky:

When I read last week that a majority of Americans ages 18 to 25 didn't know who Colonel Sanders was, I was shocked. According to USA Today, 61% of respondents didn't know who the guy with the beard in the KFC logo was. What? They don't know who the most famous chicken icon in the world is? A face that says "fried chicken" to hungry people from China to Peru?

For anyone who grew up in America in the second half of the 20th century, the Colonel was a true icon. You didn't need to be able to read to know who he was; you didn't even need to watch TV. Anyone who drove a mile in any direction would see his beaming, grandfatherly visage and white suit and know that Kentucky Fried Chicken could be found there. Maybe not everybody knew that he was the chain's founder or remembered his TV commercials from the '60s and '70s, when he talked about how each piece was dipped in an "egg warsh" before frying. But, at least, they knew he was real. Half of the young adults in the survey, which was ordered up by the chain, assumed that he was the creation of KFC, rather than the other way around.

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Comments

[Dolmance]

10:09 PM on 10/09/2010

I thought Colonel Sanders was a Confederate officer who despised the Yankee with every fiber of his being and who made a vow to his men after the Surrender at Appomattox that he would never smile again while Abraham Lincoln was alive.

And then he went into his chicken phase, working on behalf of Roosevelt in an effort to keep America out of WWII, but decided it was hopeless when Adolph Hitler told him he didn't like chicken and the Colonel knew right then that this man would cause a holocaust.

[ThatBloodyDog]

05:09 PM on 09/28/2010

Is the good colonel standing in front of Harry's Cafe De Wheels in Woolloomooloo eating pie?

[Tingalingaling]

07:41 PM on 09/27/2010

The Col. was in fact a very interesting man. I was talking to this older gentleman the other day and he told me the story about a day he saw the Col. at his first restaurant. He told the Col. that he was getting married the next month and the Col. told him to come back the next day. He did and the Col. gave him a stock certificate for KFC worth $100.00, that was a lot in those days. The gentleman said he sold those shares in 1997 and they brought in $70,000! The Col. is buried at the grand Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky. Also, search his name on YouTube and you can see the Col. himself including an appreance on Whats My Line..Sadly, these days, eating KFC could be hazardous to your health and taste buds..

[awckid3]

12:37 PM on 09/25/2010

Kentucky Fried Chicken was an outstanding product. Not anymore. The younger folks will never know what those original 11 herbs and spices tasted like. I miss it terribly.

[owiseone]

05:10 PM on 09/20/2010

It would not be right for me not to post that Col. Sanders was a frequent and regular visitor to the patients at Children's Hospital in Louisville, Ky. At the time, in the 60s, he was larger than life and would come with gifts and entertainment. He was devoted to the children and was quite generous with both his time and his money. If he had not been a good soul he would have been out finding more "glamorous" ways to spend both.
He was known as very kind and down to earth, having been in his 60s when his chicken restaurants became popular. I don't think he ever envisioned what they've become ,nor would he have approved.

[Ophelia23]

02:50 PM on 09/20/2010

My dad stole a life-sized Colonel Sanders cut out from the local KFC when he was in college in the 70's. Then at a college hockey game, the cut out of Colonel Sanders, along with a life-sized cut out of Sam Adams, made their rounds through the stands. It made local news, and was quite the sight to see... Colonel Sanders and Sam Adams, crowd surfing together. I believe there was also a life-size chewbacca going around, as well...

[LochNessMonster8]

02:30 PM on 09/20/2010

I'm 28 and I know who Colonel Sanders is. Not surprised that these younger kids don't know who he is. Most of them don't even know how to spell/pronounce the word 'Colonel'.

[colinmeister]

08:50 AM on 09/20/2010

When we first came across Kentucky Fried Chicken in the UK, in the early '70s, we were ammused that the outlets always had a photograph of Colonel Sanders posted on the wall. We thought it was very much like the Red Chinese, who at that time seemed to always have a picture of Chairman Mao Tse-Tung posted on their walls.

[christineontario]

08:16 AM on 09/20/2010

My uncle, a French Canadian in Quebec, was one Colonel Sander's "boys" in the 1970s. That gives you an indication of his influence on the fast food market in N. America then. The food was good. Real chicken, coleslaw and thick cut bread. Sure, not the healthiest meal, but not the crackled brown junk they serve now.

[vetxcl]

05:10 AM on 09/20/2010

oh no!!! we're loosing our american identity!! (because some people know more about santa claus than a flamboyant business man.) scary stuff.

[Samantha Monteleone]

03:37 AM on 09/20/2010

Lol. I thought everyone knew who Colonel Sanders was.

[SusanElizabeth1949]

02:43 AM on 09/20/2010

KFC's "Firey Wings" are good, , but that is about all edible there, and I doubt if Harlan Sanders would recognize that menu item.

[Bruce Friedrich]

09:48 PM on 09/19/2010

Not sure why that link didn't work. Just cut and paste it into your browser:

www.KentuckyFriedCruelty.com

or

www.KFCCruelty.com

[Bruce Friedrich]

09:46 PM on 09/19/2010

www.KentuckyFriedCruelty.com

watch videos about KFC from Dick Gregory, Pamela Anderson, Paul McCartney, Al Sharpton, and Bea Arthur. This is a horridly cruel corporation.

[StephenJK]

11:54 PM on 09/19/2010

KFC is owned by Yum Brand Foods, I believe. All fast food is related and interconnected to the factory farming because it's cheap. It's a shame. We have too many mouths to feed.

[barrada nicto]

04:31 AM on 09/20/2010

And not enough government oversight.

[SeaBlood]

09:31 PM on 09/19/2010

Yeah, but what about that guy who founded Wendy's ! You know who I mean----Old Whats-his-name!

[tulsey]

10:15 PM on 09/19/2010

Dave Thomas, and when he had his last heart attack, a burger jumped out of his chest, just like the movie "Allien."

[skatscan]

09:12 PM on 09/22/2010

He worked for Colonel Sanders in the 60s before he started Wendy's.