For those of us who grew up watching Colonel Sanders (or rather, some guy dressed up as Colonel Sanders) on ads for Kentucky Fried Chicken, it might come as a shock to learn that the fast food chain’s own survey found that more than 60% of Americans between the ages of 18-25 couldn’t identify the man.

In addition to people not being able to identify the Colonel, 50% responded that they thought he was just a made-up icon and not the founder of the chain.

KFC says that they have launched an all-out blitz on social media after learning that so many people in their target audience couldn’t name the man whose name and face had been synonymous with the brand for so many decades.

Says a rep for the company:

As time has gone by, the younger generation didn’t get to see and experience him like other generations did” in ads and personal appearances… We plan to celebrate the fact that our founder was a real person.

Earlier this summer, we wrote about the growing number of KFC franchisees upset with the company’s actions in recent years that they believe have taken the emphasis off the fact that they are primarily a fried chicken joint.

Meanwhile, rival restaurant Popeyes recently got a boon by beating KFC in a taste test.

KFC tries to revive founder Colonel Sanders’ prestige [USA Today]

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