# I don't get this KFC popcorn chicken commercial **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777 "2011-09-19T02:24:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/1 "2011-09-19T02:24:32Z")
the narrator’s like “what part of the chicken is a nugget? Our cooks don’t make nuggets, they make popcorn chicken” what part of the chicken is popcorn? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/2 "2011-09-19T02:29:33Z")
Real, 100% off-the-bone breast meat. (It’s in the commercial.) ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/3 "2011-09-19T02:30:22Z")
yeah, exactly:rolleyes: a dumb, dumb, dumb commercial. It will probably make them a mint. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/4 "2011-09-19T02:39:03Z")
Yeah I know it’s in the commercial that it’s breast meat. It’s just a dumb concept for a commercial ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/5 "2011-09-19T02:43:05Z")
Not to mention that they’re [about 27 years late…](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTzLVIc-O5E) ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/6 "2011-09-19T03:57:45Z")
I gotta agree, and the commercial has always bugged me too. Yes, “nugget” is a meaningless descriptor for the food. But so is “popcorn”. If they wanted to point out how their chicken was not machine-separated chicken parts like McDonalds, they should have made it about that. But instead it’s about how, “Ha ha, there’s no part of a chicken called a nugget! What a silly thing to call your item!”, when “popcorn” is no different. And yes, I realize I’m taking it way too seriously, but still. It’s a valid point. ---
**Author:** ![Raskolnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac8455/32.png) [@Raskolnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raskolnikov)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/7 "2011-09-19T17:55:01Z")
I had the same reaction to this. Dumb commercial. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/8 "2011-09-19T18:10:25Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Not to mention that they’re [about 27 years late…](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTzLVIc-O5E) They couldn’t top the classic “Parts is Parts” so they just went with nonsensical, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/9 "2011-09-19T18:16:42Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > the narrator’s like “what part of the chicken is a nugget? Our cooks don’t make nuggets, they make popcorn chicken” > what part of the chicken is popcorn? I said the same damned thing just the other day! ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/10 "2011-09-19T18:22:02Z")
Your “cooks” don’t “make” _ **anything** _! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/11 "2011-09-19T20:00:33Z")
That ad got you to write KFC Popcorn Chicken on an internet site, creating ‘impressions’ for all who are on the dope for free. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/12 "2011-09-19T20:06:08Z")
I actually mentioned this is a facebook post recently. The closest answer I could come up with was that the popcorn is actually undigested stomach contents. ---
**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/13 "2011-09-19T21:10:40Z")
They’re just trying to generate a negative association to the word nugget when applied to chicken. People, when prompted with the silly question, will range from the concept of unidentifiable (and therefor undesirable) bits all the way to chicken testicles or some such. Even if the audience doesn’t really take the commercial seriously, they will quite likely think of the commercial when they see chicken nuggets in the future. ETA: Popcorn, as a descriptor with shrimp or chicken, is really only referring to the method of eating it by hand. They don’t contain popcorn, you eat them like popcorn. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/14 "2011-09-19T21:16:24Z")
> [@jamiemcgarry](#): > > Your “cooks” don’t “make” _ **anything** _! :dubious: KFC has another whole set of commercials touting that they have “chefs” making their chicken in every restaurant, instead of the pimply-faced barely literate morons they want you to picture working at McDonalds and other similar places… ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/15 "2011-09-19T23:02:48Z")
To me, chicken “nuggets” still sound more culinary and food-like than “popcorn” chicken. “Popcorn” chicken brings to mind images of little balls of deep-fried batter, that may or may not contain small slivers of some part of a chicken inside. Chicken “nuggets” just kind of sound like chunks of meat, which they basically are. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/16 "2011-09-20T03:42:03Z")
> [@jamiemcgarry](#): > > To me, chicken “nuggets” still sound more culinary and food-like than “popcorn” chicken. “Popcorn” chicken brings to mind images of little balls of deep-fried batter, that may or may not contain small slivers of some part of a chicken inside. Chicken “nuggets” just kind of sound like chunks of meat, which they basically are. Agreed 100%. Chicken nugget sounds like a legitimate foodstuff, although not a very highbrow one. Popcorn chicken sounds like something that would only exists as an agressively processed unhealthy foodstuff. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-kfc-popcorn-chicken-commercial/596777/17 "2011-09-20T04:02:58Z")
popcorn chicken, like “country style” fish @ captain d’s is rarely made from chicken specifically cut for that purpose. Back in my days w Captain D’s, we hand cut fish to filet size - obviously, this left alot of trimmings - these got weighted into dinner portions for ‘country style’ - I have zero doubt that ‘popcorn’ chicken is similarly cut - from end pieces unfit for the ‘regular’ portions. IOW - it’s scraps.