KFC Crocs, Whopper perfume: Why your roommate suddenly smells like fast food

KFC’s new kicks look like -- and smell like -- fried chicken.

Imagine — in the Before Times — your date takes you back to their place. They dim the lamps, turn on Marvin Gaye, and light candles that smell like a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder.

KFC Crocs, Whopper perfume: Why your roommate suddenly smells like fast food

These are situations we have to prepare for now. For reasons that may only be clear to Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders, fast-food brands are going big on fragrances:

  • This week, KFC debuted a new line of $60 Crocs that look — and smell — like fried chicken. And in 2016, the brand gave out chicken-scented candles to New Zealand fans.
  • Burger King held a one-day sale of “Flame-Grilled Fragrance” in Japan on April 1, 2015 — for ~$41.
  • In 2012, 110 lucky fans got free “Eau de Pizza Hut” perfume, which smelled like “hand-tossed” dough.

It’s a pretty genius marketing tactic: Nothing gets people to order a breadstick-crust pizza quite like smelling it all day.

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