KFC tries to avoid controversy after teaming up with sacred Buddhist site for new drink 

Lauren Lewis
KFC Buddhist collab

KFC announced that they’d be teaming up with a sacred Buddhist site to release a new coffee, and the chain are taking steps to avoid controversy.

We’ve heard of some bizarre fast-food collaborations. Just recently, Cinnabon announced that they’d be bringing out a Mean Girl’s collaboration, ahead of the new movie’s release, which featured pink swirly icing. 

While 2024 has only just begun, we may have already found the most confusing fast-food collaboration of the year.

KFC has partnered with the sacred Buddhist site Mount Wutai to launch a new coffee. The collab features K Coffee, KFC’s coffee offering and Wutaishan, the official brand backed by local cultural and travel authorities, available to customers between 8 and 21 January.

KFC tries to avoid controversy after new Buddhist collab

After another brand called Hey Tea faced controversy following their collab with Jingdezhen China Ceramics Museum, they were forced to withdraw all items and marketing materials from their “Speechless Buddha” campaign.

This happened just one week after the big launch.

KFC is trying to avoid such controversy, and as a result, has decided to forgo any Buddhist imagery on products.

They’ve also chosen to market the product with a blessing outside of traditional Buddhist texts, to avoid the same fate as Hey Tea.

Another collab is going viral, as Cinnabon announced that they were bringing out pink rolls to celebrate the launch of the new Mean Girls movie.

About The Author

Lauren is a fast food writer at Dexerto. Covering some of the biggest brands in the industry, you'll find her writing about McDonald's, KFC, Wendy's, Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, Taco Bell, and Domino's Pizza, to name a few. Lauren has a Master's degree in English Literature, and loves nothing more than putting pen to paper. You can contact Lauren at lauren.lewis@dexerto.com.