While Wendy’s spokeswoman Clara Peller may then have demanded to know where the beef was, Hopewell Junction retiree Anna Wurtzburger is asking, “Where’s the chicken?”
Wurtzburger, 64, confirmed Tuesday to Daily Voice that she is suing fast-food giant KFC for $20 million.
The basis for her suit, she said, is not the food, but false advertising.
A widow living on a fixed income, Wurtzburger said she rarely splurges on food, but had bought a $20 “Fill-Up” bucket because she thought she could make several meals out of it.
She was tempted, she said, by a KFC ad showing a bucket overflowing with chicken.
The ad, Wurtzburger said, implied that the bucket, with sides and rolls, would feed a whole family.
“Wrong,” she said Tuesday, adding that if it did, it would have to be a very small one.
KFC tried to argue, she said, that it was using promotional staging to show the product to consumers.
“If that’s the case,” she said, “they should have put it on a plate.”
KFC, while contending that Wurtzburger’s claims are "meritless," nonetheless has made a peace offering in the form of coupons.
According to Wurtzburger, the chain sent her lawyer a $20 coupon and then a $50 coupon.
“The money is not the point,” she said. “The point is, they’re showing you one thing, and then they’re doing the other.”
Besides, she added about the coupons, laughing: “Don’t they know that the lawyer will get a third?”
KFC said Tuesday that it will be asking the court to dismiss Wurtzburger's case.
According to a statement released by the company: "The guest received exactly what she requested. She purchased an eight-piece bucket of chicken and she indeed received eight pieces of chicken. Our menus and advertising clearly show our $20 Fill Up meal includes eight pieces of chicken."
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