Music

Dance Artists Are Ripping Into KFC’s Cringeworthy Ultra Music Festival Stunt

Alison Wonderland has called a DJ performance by Colonel Sanders himself "cringe".

by Joseph Earp  1 April 2019
Ultra Music Festival KFC Colonel Sanders photo

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Increasingly, brands are paying a great deal of money to appear less like multi-national corporations, and more like deeply cool and alternative members of the youth. Case in point — the stunt that KFC pulled at Ultra Music Festival.

Yes, KFC decided that the best way to spread the message about their herbs and spices was to dress up a still anonymous DJ in an oversized Colonel Sanders head, give him a white t-shirt with a suit emblazoned on it, and instruct him to perform a set of underwhelming electro noodling.

Admittedly, the rest of Ultra Music Festival wasn’t much better, but all have agreed that the KFC performance was the jewel in a throbbing crown of blisters. Not only did punters at the event respond like they were being forced to watch root canal surgery, in the days since the atrocity was over, members of the electro community have been decrying the craven publicity move.

Particularly irritated was DJ and producer Marshmello, who is one of the foremost experts when it comes to techno peddlers who wear oversized novelty helmets. In a now deleted tweet, the producer called the set “lame” and argued that there were “a lot of other artists that actually deserve to be on that stage instead.”

But Marshmello wasn’t alone, and before long, a whole host of other producers were getting in on the sledge.

Whether or not KFC will be forced to make an embarrassing apology for the stunt remains to be seen.