• by Aaron Baar , October 6, 2008

KFC is looking to influence tonight's presidential debate. If any candidate, moderator or even audience member brings up world hunger during the town hall-style debate, the company will donate $20,000 to world hunger relief efforts.

To help guide the discourse, KFC Monday night aired a 30-second television ad in Nashville, Tenn., where tonight's debate is taking place. The silent, black-and-white television ad is intended to capture people's attention, Rick Maynard, a representative for the Louisville, Ky.-based company, tells Marketing Daily.

"We thought this was something that could attract attention," Maynard says. "With all the information coming at people, we think the idea of no audio will get some notice."

The ad begins with shots of John McCain and Barack Obama speaking in an earlier debate. On-screen text reads: "We're hearing a lot of rhetoric. But the silence on hunger is deafening." Over shots of starving children, the ad reiterates the offer to donate $20,000 to the United Nations World Food Programme. Tonight's debate format, which will feature questions from citizens as well as a pre-picked moderator, lent itself particularly well to an effort to raise the issue to the presidential level.

The effort is part of Yum Brands' (KFC's parent company) World Hunger Relief campaign, which has enlisted all of the company's restaurants (Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC) to help raise funds and awareness of hunger worldwide.

In addition to attempting to raise the issue to presidential levels, local KFC restaurants are participating in fund-raising and volunteering at local food banks, Maynard says. The company has enlisted singer Mariah Carey to appear in point-of-sale materials as Yum Brands' Hunger Ambassador. Customers who donate to the World Hunger Relief Campaign will receive a free download of Carey's song "Love Story."