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Urban Legend Evaluation Literature Review
There are two different strategies I would use to investigate the claim that KFC is no longer Kentucky Fried Chicken because they simply use genetically manipulated chicken-like organisms. My first strategy would be to investigate the reasoning behind the perceived brand name change. I would seek out and interview KFC officials and marketing officials in order to ask them the reasoning behind the brand name change, making sure to record the interview to receive information from a direct source. I would also research copyright and trademark data as available, in addition to press releases and corporate data, for any perceived name change in the KFC brand. Ideally, this line of questioning would clear up the veracity of whether or not KFC had even changed their name specifically because they were not allowed to say ‘chicken’ anymore, particularly by the government.
The other strategy would revolve around the more controversial claim in the urban legend – the use of chicken-like creatures for their meat. First, I would interview government officials and KFC management, and be asked to be shown around their processing plants and farms to discern from where they source their meat. This would involve arranging tours of these facilities in which we would be allowed to record and disseminate information, to provide visual proof of the claim’s veracity. Furthermore, I would be asked to be supplied one of the chickens from their KFC plants so they could undergo a scientific checkup on their genetic makeup, bone structure, visual inspection of their health, and more. With these various strategies, it should be possible to determine whether or not a) KFC was ordered by the government to change their name, and b) whether that name change was due to the inhumane creation of genetic chicken meat material for the purposes of creating more efficient meat sources.
