Monday, September 27, 2010

I'll just stand, thanks

The three and a half years of this blog have seen more than a couple entrants into the field of "most disgusting fast food sandwich," from the BK Stacker to the Baconator to the Bacon Double Homestyle Melt. This one, though, has been notorious ever since it was first announced. KFC, to their credit (maybe?), seems to have embraced the notoriety. But that doesn't really improve things.



Construction Worker: "Today is the day."
Skateboarder: "The day I ignore the voice of reason."

Seriously, that's the pitch? "You know that little voice in the back of your mind telling you that this food item is disgusting and awful? Just block that shit out." I could use the same logic to justify eating a package of Mallomars and washing it down with turkey gravy. You know, in theory.

Office Type: "The day I talk to the girl from accounting."

Not much of a comparable. Unless - is she riddled with STDs? Okay, you win, KFC. This is exactly like working up the nerve to eat your horrible sandwich.

Dude with classic car, for some reason: "The day I ditch the bun."

Okay, not bad - the Atkins diet isn't for everyone, but leaving off a fast food bun, which is a lot of refined white flour, will save you a fair number of calories...

Douchebag on couch: "And demand two meaty fillets!"

Uh oh.

Random guy on street: "Two slices of cheese!"
Guy walking indoors: "And two pieces of bacon."


"And two more notches on your belt." I love how they act like there was actually "demand" for this, like they didn't want to make the Double Down but Joe Back-Fat forced their hand. Does anyone really believe there was some focus group where KFC was testing out a new sandwich, and they kept getting the response "Would be better with entire second chicken fillet and without bun?"

Office Type: "Yeah. I said bacon."

Oh, bacon? Never heard of it. I assume this is some rare ingredient that no one would ever think to put on a fast food sandwich, and thus your extreme emphasis and pride here is not at all mispla- no, no, I'm being told that in fact bacon is quite popular and probably appears on more fast food sandwiches these days than does ketchup.

Construction Worker: "Today's the day... I double down."

And tomorrow is the day you get a stent put in. No, make that two stents! See what I did there?

Voiceover: "The KFC Double Down! Double meat, double cheese, double bacon, double awesome."

Bacon is meat. And this thing really just looks gross. Oh, but it's also in grilled! Sweet, I was worried that two chicken breast fillets plus bacon and cheese might be a smidge too many calories. You do save all of 60 calories (still 480), although astonishingly the grilled version has significantly more cholesterol than the original recipe.

Voiceover: "Get yours today."

Pass.

Douchebag on couch: "So good."

I really don't like this guy. Why is he trying to eye-fuck the camera and only speaking out of one side of his mouth? Fuck him. I have no interest in anything he likes. Anyway, in case you missed him saying "So good," here comes a really obnoxious jingle to spell it out for you. No, seriously:

Jingle: "So S-O, G-Double-O-D Good!"

What the fuck is that stupid bullshit? First of all, "so good" itself is barely an acceptable slogan. Second of all, that is the best you could do for a song? "Hey, let's say the exact same thing twice, except in between the two words we'll spell the whole thing!" Who had to bill KFC for the thirty seconds it took them to write and compose that piece of shit?

This really is the evolution of fatness in America, isn't it? Sure, compared to some other products, the Double Down really isn't that bad - 540 calories and 32 grams of fat in 241 grams, which is absolutely dwarfed by that BK Homestyle Melt (810, 58, 221). But we've gone from "This sandwich needs more meat! Get rid of these vegetables!" to "This sandwich needs more meat! Get rid of this worthless bun!", which is just kind of ridiculous. Can you really even still call it a sandwich if it lacks a bun? And what's next? A chicken fillet with bacon and cheese jammed between two hamburger patties? A whole pork belly between two pieces of chicken? A turducken wrapped in bacon? A chicken fillet in between two entire roast pigs? Don't forget the melted butter for dipping!

6 comments:

JeremyB said...

Fivethirtyeight showed earlier this year that when you calibrate the scale to account for the calories, it IS the worst sandwich ever made:

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/04/double-down-by-numbers-unhealthiest.html

Anonymous said...

You missed this one: The Doughnut Burger (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut_burger)

Windier E. Megatons said...

Jeremy: I knew I had read that somewhere but couldn't remember where. Thanks for the link. Using their calculator and a set of nutrition facts I found online - which differed a bit from the facts I had found and used when I wrote the original post a couple years ago and mentioned again in this one - the Bacon Double Homestyle Melt actually only clocks in at 0.85 Double Downs per calorie.

However, I think it's worth noting that this is only a viable measurement if you assume that what actually "fills up" a person is something's calorie count rather than its bulk/volume. I'm not sure I agree with that entirely.

Unknown said...

sweet post. the jingle at the end is somehow the most ridiculous part of this ad

Anonymous said...

I don't get it. Yes, that sandwich (which I have not tried) is unhealthy. But, contrary to what is written here: it looks absolutely delicious to me personally.

Anonymous said...

I can see ripping the asinine commercial (what you do best) but do you **really** want to dig the badge out of a box of Grape Nuts and become a junior deputy of the FAT POLICE? Doesn't bulld0g-faced Michelle Obama already have that gig (when not eating ice cream in Spain?) Yeah, we know it's fast food and it's bad for you. Live a little. You're still going to die.