The other day we learned KFC is dropping the slogan you’ve been hearing your entire life.  The one you know by heart.

 - Reba -

Reba McIntire’s turn as the Colonel.  Finger Lickin doesn’t sound sound so magnificent in the middle of a pandemic… after all .. you’re supposed to avoid touching your hands to your face.  So the Colonel… whoever he is… won’t say it. 

In case of spectacularly bad timing… KFC debuted a choreographed commercial of nothing but people licking their fingers… set to classical music.  They didn’t even have to say a word in the spot.

The unforgettable tagline has been around for 64 years.  Here’s the real Colonel.  Harlan Sanders… back in 1969.

You know the real colonel.. wasn’t a Colonel.   He was a gas station attendant… an insurance salesman… and a guy figured out how to make good chicken in a pressure fryer.   His first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant was on South State Street in Murray.   It’s still there… the dining room’s closed because of Covid.   Drive thru’s open though.

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      Back when he only had a roadside stand in Kentucky ...The Governor gave him the Honorary Title of Colonel …because of his contributions to the state’s cuisine.  Colonel Sanders never served in the military

And now younger folk ask if the Colonel was a real person… and wonder if he’s still alive. .  Yes he’s real.  No he’s not alive. he died in 1980.  A man who rose up from nothing.  He lived hand to mouth.  Then life got finger lickin good… but he sold the entire chain for chicken feed.  He got 2-million bucks.   These days KFC is worth a bucket full of money.  8-and-a-half-5 billion.  Whether you lick your fingers… or not.

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