KFC in Japan – The Curse of the Colonel and Chance Marketing Opportunities with the Hanshin Tigers

In baseball-crazy Japan, one of the game’s most interesting legends, known amongst fans as ‘the curse of the Colonel’, has presented a once-in-a-lifetime marketing opportunity for Kentucky Fried Chicken.

This legend stretches back to a famous night in Osaka in 1985, when local baseball team and perennial underdogs the Hanshin Tigers won the Japan Series Pennant – their first and only victory in the series to this day. As one of Japan’s most popular but least successful teams, delirious fans celebrated by having lookalikes of the team’s players jump into the Dotonbori River, which runs through the heart of Osaka city.

There was a conundrum, though, when the fans tried to find a lookalike for the team’s star slugger, foreigner Randy Bass. After searching in vain for a foreign lookalike, a statue of Colonel Saunders from a nearby KFC store was tossed into the river instead. Quickly disappearing under the water, the statue was lost.

After this incident, the Hanshin Tigers quickly returned to their losing ways. They have never won the Japan series since, and many fans were convinced that KFC Mascot Colonel Saunders had placed a curse on the team – angry at the treatment of one of his store statues being thrown in the river.

Known as ‘the curse of the Colonel’, it is rumoured that the team can never win again until the statue is found. Numerous attempts have been made to source the statue, but it was never found.

Until now. Amazingly, after more than 23 years at the bottom of the river, the statue was finally located by construction workers paving the bottom of the river this week.

You might be wondering why this is such a good opportunity for KFC in Japan. Critically though, it is important to understand that the story is well known amongst most Japanese, and the fact that the statue was actually found after 23 painful years is mind-blowing to most fans. Additionally, the story has made national and international headlines, and is a source of great joy for the millions of Hanshin Tigers fans who are hoping that the curse has been broken.

Although nothing has been announced yet, I am very interested to see what KFC do with this chance opportunity. Some things running through my mind that could capture this sentiment could be a burger promotion deal involving the mascot in a Hanshin Tigers uniform,  or publicly displaying the statue at the original store. Or on a simpler level, they could leave the legend as-is and live off the word of mouth from this story.

According to the BBC, KFC is reported to be considering donating the statue to the Tigers in time for the start of the season next month.