I think it’s kind of funny that some folks take what they hear without researching it, and automatically assign truth to it. (I’m not pointing fingers, as I have fallen victim to a few hoaxes in my own time… only after looking it up to prove I was right, did I realise… well… no, that email someone sent me was not true, and Abe Vigoda isn’t dead…. or whatever.)

Here’s one that I’ve gotten probably 50 times, and it is patently untrue. It’s so ridiculous, that well, it almost sounds like it would be legit.

***snip***

This is Very Disturbing – This was sent to me so I’m just sharing the information.

KFC has been a part of our American traditions for many years. Many people, day in and day out, eat at KFC religiously. Do they really know what they are eating? During a recent study of KFC done at the University of New Hampshire, they found some very upsetting facts.

First of all, has anybody noticed that just recently, the company has changed their name? Kentucky Fried Chicken has become KFC. Does anybody know why? We thought the real reason was because of the “FRIED” food issue. It’s not. The reason why they call it KFC is because they can not use the word chicken anymore. Why? KFC does not use real chickens.

They actually use genetically manipulated organisms. These so called “chickens” are kept alive by tubes inserted into their bodies to pump blood and nutrients throughout their structure. They have no beaks, no feathers, and no feet. Their bone structure is dramatically shrunk to get more meat out of them. This is great for KFC because they do not have to pay so much for their production costs. There is no more plucking of the feathers or the removal of the beaks and feet.

The government has told them to change all of their menus so they do not say chicken anywhere. If you look closely you will notice this. Listen to their commercials, I guarantee you will not see or hear the word chicken. I find this matter to be very disturbing. I hope people will start to realize this and let other people know.

Please forward this message to as many people as you can. Together we make KFC start using real chicken again.

** end snip.

It has all the hallmarks of a hoax… the evil corporate conspiracy, the authoritative sounding reference to a university study and, of course, the plea for grassroots action by forwarding “this message to as many people as you can.” It plays on the concerns that have been raised over genetically altered produce and from a theoretical standpoint is almost plausible. However, that is a very big “almost.” Two things about this hoax jumped out at me immediately as I read it for the first time. The first was that if the University of New Hampshire had really done a study such as this I wouldn’t be hearing about it for the first time in a forwarded e-mail… it would have made the front page of the newspaper and CNN’s Headline News. This is true of many hoaxes, if they were real the media would jump all over them. That alone convinced me this was a hoax, but then when it went on to say “I guarantee you will not see or hear the word chicken” in KFC’s advertising I thought “then what’s that stuff they keep saying they do right?” One thing is for sure, the person who wrote this doesn’t do rumors right… it fell apart from the start. However, as far as rumors go, it was amusing. Had the author implicated McDonalds’ burgers I may have been inclined to believe it. *g*