KFC Facebook post may have disqualified Taylor Swift campaign from Triple J Hottest 100 list
Fast food brand KFC may have unintentionally ended a public campaign aimed at getting one of pop star Taylor Swift’s songs voted in to radio station Triple J’s Hottest 100.
It appears a Facebook posting by the chicken restaurant could be used by the ABC to rule the artist and her song Shake It Off ineligible for the publicly voted music list, after it used Swift’s image and the #tay4hottest100 hashtag coined by campaigners.
Competition rules state: “Triple J reserves the right to remove artists from the list who have benefited from competitions or commercial campaigns that incentivise fans to vote for them.”
Former Triple J presenter Angela Catterns said yesterday on The Drum that Swift and the public hashtag campaign #tay4hottest100 had been ruled ineligible due to KFC’s involvement.
“You probably know that there was a push to get a Taylor Swift song in [the Hottest 100], which has now been disqualified because a fast food chain became involved in the whole process”, Catterns said on the program (23.30 minutes in).
Asked to confirm whether Taylor Swift and her song Shake it Off were still eligible for the Hottest 100, which is announced on Australia Day on Monday, an ABC spokesman was coy.
“We have no comment at this stage other than to say an announcement will be made in due course”, said the spokesman.
Comment is also being sought from KFC. The fast food chain’s #tay4hottest100 Facebook ad, which uses a photoshopped image of Swift, declares “The #tay4hottest100 campaign is going strong and she’s got our vote”.
“Tell us which Taylor song is your favourite for your chance to win a voucher for $19.89!”
KFC has also been asked whether it licenced the image of Swift before posting the ad.
The #tay4hottest100 campaign was originally started by Buzzfeed News reporter Mark Di Stefano last week drawing a mixed response from social media fans, with some loving the campaign and others critical about the prospect of a song which had not been played on Triple J being voted onto the list.
Update 7.34pm: KFC says it has deleted the Taylor Swift post and that it did not intend to influence the voting in the Hottest 100. The company did not address whether it had licenced the image of Swift which it used.
“We know many of our fans are music lovers and our recent post has caused a bit of a stir so to avoid any more confusion we have removed the post,” said a KFC spokeswoman.
“The post simply asked our fans to tell us what their favourite Taylor Swift song was for the opportunity to win a voucher, we were not incentivising people to vote for the Hottest 100.”
Nic Christensen
Australia is not a communist state. People should be able to vote for their favourite song #tay4hottest100
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did the KFC thing happen before or after voting closed?
BTW to my pleasant surprise they did put a Sharon Jones song on the list (which I voted for) but I’ve be surprised if they actually played it…they generally don’t play stuff by anyone over 30 and good old Sharon is a wonderful fifty-ish I’d say.
I reckon they should just chill out a bit and let it happen. They are so bloody precious about it all. Not as though there isn;t a a whole load of crap there anyway. Lots of good stuff too. For the record my votes were:
Temples – Sun Structures
St. Vincent – Birth In Reverse
Sharon Van Etten – Your Love Is Killing Me
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings – We Get Along
New Pornographers, The – Brill Bruisers
Jack White – Alone In My Home
Hurray For The Riff Raff – No One Else
Benjamin Booker – Have You Seen My Son?
Benjamin Booker – Violent Shiver
Courtney Barnett – Pickles From The Jar
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And thus the epic game of chicken (no pun intended) between Australia’s hipster douche and teenybopper twit populations has been averted.
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Them KFC hipsters deliberating sabotaging Tay 🙂
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This is the reason why JJJ is exists – because your ‘everyone should be as miserable as me’ attitude is not shared by it’s listeners.
Keep your opinions to yourself old man.
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All songs are equal but some songs are more equal than others.
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Triple J’s marketing people must be wrapped with this #Tay4Hottest100 thing. A whole new market suddenly tunes in to JJJ to hear if their beloved Taylor wins. Plus a re-engagement opportunity for their rusted-on community.
Can’t buy that kind of spread.
Triple J would be insane to wipe her. They would be even more insane to tell people.
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I don’t always agree with the songs that get played on Triple J and those that don’t – there seems to be a lot of commercially successful music on it. However, Tripe J can solve this problem (as you can be sure next year people will want to include their fav pop star on the countdown) and that is to change the rules to be only songs that have played on Triple J during the past year.
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@Simon Lawson – the hint is in the name ‘Triple J’ Hottest 100: it is their countdown, not society’s at large. Very happy the ironicists have been defeated.
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Maybe next year they should mention all those “cool” songs and have the disqualified. Elitist snobbery on a par with the classical music “fans”.
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Massive catch 22 for triple j – I’d leave as is and let Swift go through and adjust the rules going forward. Possibly the worst written terms and conditions in history
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Its a competition for JJJ listeners. I doubt many T.Swift fans listen to JJJ.
The Hot 100 gives new, unsigned and emerging artists a chance at national exposure. Getting a global “big label” act like Swift involved is like having Blocker Roach sign up for the local Under 9’s Tae Kwon Do tournament. Sure he’ll win but does he deserve a trophy?
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This is crap. JJJ was just looking for an excuse to rule out a song they don’t like. It would be interesting to see what JJJ would have done had KFC or another fast food chain posted something about a musician which JJJ management found acceptable.
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I’m 43 and ADORE Taylor Swift. Is that creepy?
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That photoshop of Taylor’s arm is very distracting. It looks like it may be broken.
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Could seriously go a 3 piece feed.
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paddo, for the record no one cares
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No one has mentioned the most bizarre part of this.
KFC does gift vouchers?!?
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Well pointed out Mr. Lawson. That’s why I am voting for Pussy Riot.
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Hey, hey, hey, just think while you’ve been getting down and out about the KFC’s and dirty, dirty cheats of the world you could have been getting down to
this
sick
beat
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@scott.
or.
not.
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