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Introducing Kentucky Fried Chicken’s New Nightmare Alley Menu

Adam Dietz
3 min readApr 27, 2022

Photo by iStrfry , Marcus on Unsplash

Say what you will about Colonel Sanders, but the man is always innovating. From his revolutionary idea of taking everything left over from the previous day, crudely mixing it together, and calling it a “Famous Bowl” to his recent pivot into Beyond Fried Chicken, the bespectacled Colonel and his team of food scientists are not afraid to take chances. So when he teamed up with auteur filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro for a cross-promotional tie-in for his recent release Nightmare Alley, we shouldn’t have been surprised. Intrigued, yes. Surprised, I don’t think so.

Based on the 1946 novel of the same name, Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley utilizes every tool in his gothic-clad toolbelt to deliver a macabre tale with intrigue and horror a plenty. Criminally underseen upon initial release, Del Toro’s hope in partnering with the chicken-based fast-food giant was (seemingly) to increase awareness of the film while highlighting the indelible legacy of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Starring Bradley Cooper, who briefly shows his penis, the film follows a carnival worker with a mysterious past who will stop at nothing for success and admiration. With regards to the tie-in, the question was never whether or not the chicken executives would agree to the partnership, but just a question of how quickly.

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Adam Dietz
Adam Dietz

Written by Adam Dietz

Comedy writer with work in McSweeney’s, Slackjaw, Points in Case, etc. Editor of the Yapjaw newsletter.

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