The “New” in New York

You can always count on New York being ground zero for any new idea or marketing concepts. I encountered another remade icon yesterday. There was a new Col. Sanders. The new Col. has a sharp new haircut. Old timers will remember the original Col. Sanders was fresh off the plantation. You could almost see the slaves working away in the kitchen where he stole all of his good recipes. Marketers rapidly tried to remake the Colonel into a kindly grandfather type. He had the longish hair still reminiscent of another age. He liked children and drumsticks.

Now the Col. has a neat razor cut. He doesn’t look old anymore. He looks almost edgy. What could have been taken for antebellum now looks GQ. Instead of a former slave owner he looks like the tow-headed I.T. guy with the Cuban girlfriend who works at your office – the guy who drinks mojitos and makes a kick-ass chili. It works for me.