ABC rejects "subliminal" KFC ad

from the imdb

Did ABC Chicken Out on KFC Ad?

KFC's strategy to counter TiVo users who skip commercials suffered the
equivalent of bird flu Wednesday when it was rejected by ABC. KFC had

Ian J. Ball...

"The Zack Tapes" live!!1!

Taylor...

Um... that's illegal. Or............ taking it as close to illegal as
you can get, so I guess it's not... but somehow slightly unethical. Ah,
who cares? KFC will only get more hate from Pam Anderson now.

planned to run a secret message in a chicken sandwich ad on the
network that could only be seen if it was played back slowly. The
message described how to get the sandwich free. The message could not
be seen when the ad was played at normal speed. But ABC said it
concluded that the commercial amounted to subliminal advertising and
therefore violated ABC's policies. KFC denied that the ad was anything
of the sort, noting that the intent of subliminal advertising was to

Obveeus...

Who would have guessed anyone would think that? ;-)

elicit a subconscious response. The ad has already been running on
other networks, and KFC said that 70,000 people have already
discovered the message and applied online for the free sandwich
coupons. In an interview with the Associated Press, Jamie King, an
exec at ad agency Publicis & Hal Riney, said that he was surprised by

tomcervo...

Hal Riney is the guy with the sonorous voice parodied in the PHC Catsup
ads.

ABC's action. "I would think the networks would look to partner and
encourage experimentation with techniques that involve the viewer and
discourage them to skip the commercials," he said.

Obveeus...

KFC needs to start paying shows to have their characters eat KFC while
sitting around the table.