Earlier this week, many of you were angry to learn that a Double Down sandwich is healthier for you than a salad. Now the philanthropic Colonel Sanders is going to wipe out breast cancer, by selling you fried chicken!

So what if someone pointed out that KFC's Double Down health facts are total bullshit? What's not to like about the company's "Buckets for the Cure" campaign? For every Pink Bucket© of greasy, heart-stopping deliciousness that goes out the door, KFC will donate a whole fifty cents to Susan G. Komen for the Cure©! They're already a quarter of the way toward the goal of raising $8.5 million by mid-May. But yet again, someone had to go and demonize the benevolent Colonel (RIP). From the Washington Post:

But bear in mind that the "F" in KFC stands for "fried." Here's a line from the National Cancer Institute's Web site:

". . .studies have shown that an increased risk of developing colorectal, pancreatic, and breast cancer is associated with high intakes of well-done, fried, or barbequed meats."

Beyond that, since obesity raises breast cancer risk, it's worth looking at some numbers: According to the KFC Web site, an original-recipe fried chicken breast has 320 calories, 15 grams of total fat (including 3.5 grams of saturated fat); a thigh has 220 calories, 15 grams of total fat (4 of them saturated).

Way to take the wind out of a good deed's sails. But whatever, you can just buy a bucket, ditch the chicken and still be a caring person, right? Nope:

The fine print at the foot of the Web page points out that "KFC restaurant operators have contributed 50 cents to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure for each Komen branded bucket purchased by the operators from April 5, 2010-May 9, 2010....Customer purchases of KFC buckets during the promotion will not directly increase the total contribution." (It's also noted that KFC has guaranteed the contribution will be at least $1million. Which really is very nice.)

Notice that the promotions are careful not to mention that any purchase is necessary. They simply say that "for every pink bucket" — not the sale of every bucket — fifty cents goes to Komen. So we consumers are off the hook, really.

Oh well. So people just can't acknowledge a good deed when they see one.

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