EFE | The fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken is facing criticism in China these days for having launched a promotion that includes coveted exclusive toys within a family menu, something that the authorities believe encourages “irrational consumption” and food waste.
The China Consumers Association censured in a statement that the initiative of the well-known fried chicken brand “induces impulse buying” and can cause unnecessary food waste, “in addition to accusing the company of implementing a” marketing hungry” to increase your sales.
KFC’s campaign to mark the 35th anniversary of the opening of its first store in the Asian country consists of a collaboration with the Chinese toy company Pop Mart, which has created a limited edition of seven figures.
One of these figures is included with the purchase of a huge “cube” or family menu, but the buyer does not know which one they will get, so avid collectors have rushed to buy buckets and buckets of chicken to complete the series.
Furthermore, according to the Consumption statement, some of the figures appear less than others: the most difficult to find is only included in one of every 72 menus.
There are also those who have seen the possibility of business and in second-hand sales applications the collection of plastic figurines has been awarded for more than 10,000 yuan (1,570 dollars or 1,370 euros), when the price of a family menu is 99 yuan (15.5 dollars or 13.5 euros).
A Pekinese woman quoted by the official Global Times newspaper and a fan of Pop Mart dolls claimed to have bought three family menus at once and, although she and her roommates were eating chicken for two days, she acknowledged that they could not finish the content of the buckets and some of the food ended up in the trash.
For this contingency, savvy Internet users have also appeared who offer those who are more interested in figures than in food to “help them” and eat the chicken themselves.
“You get the toy and I get the calories,” wrote one of these disinterested souls on the Weibo social network – the equivalent of Twitter, which is censored in China.
In the summer of 2020, the Chinese government launched a campaign – the second since 2013 – to prevent food waste, although without giving exact guidelines, so everyone applied it as they wanted.
Some restaurants began to offer half portions, others limited the number of sharing plates that a group of diners could order, and some schools asked their students to videotape every day how they ate all the food on the plate.
According to data published in official media, in 2015 – the latest date for which there are statistics – between 17 and 18 million tons of food were wasted in Chinese cities, enough to feed up to 50 million people for a year.
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