Marketing is a treacherous landscape that all business owners and companies have to be able to navigate…wish special attention to detail.  It’s not something that a “one-man show” can run.  Surprisingly though, sometimes that group gets their heads so far in the sand, they miss the obvious….  the extreme…and frankly, just the downright funny.  It can leave them with a public relations nightmare to clean up.

That was just the case recently with Yum! Brands.  At first glance, you may be unfamiliar with the offerings of the Yum! Brands company…..but I promise you, after today, you will never forget.

Yum! Brands owns and operates KFC’s and Taco Bell’s fast-food chains across our great nation.  That’s right…providing the hungry masses with chicken or tacos at almost any hour of the day.  They are clearly brands that we as consumers recognize with.  Yum! Brands is now hoping that you can’t make the connection between them.

Yum! Brands has been the presenting sponsor of the infamous Kentucky Derby since 2006.  It’s a natural partnership that has arisen, as both reside in the Louisville, Kentucky area.  That is the only thing natural about this relationship.  The legacy, class and history behind the annual Kentucky Derby still continues to move the masses to find the most ridiculous hats, strap up in their fanciest, most expensive clothes, and head out to a dirt-track to watch to see what happens, and Yum! Brands has hoped to garner those classy consumers attention to their individual brands.  Classy move... not such a classy outcome this year.

Yum! Brands has been in the midst of a recent public relation campaign-effort to re-define their product and ensure consumers of their ingredients.  Particularly with Taco Bell, which in a recent campaign opened with real employees of the company defending their ingredients, and why we as consumers should continue to shop their stores?  We’ll, all the success and time placed into this campaign had been a success….until the Kentucky Derby.  The last thing Yum! Brands needed was to call further speculation to their meat….bad move on the TV campaign promoting the event.