If you were thinking about ordering KFC today, you’ll probably want to change your lunch plans, as a troubling new report has exposed some dark realities behind the fast food giant’s operations: Newly leaked photos have revealed the squalid, inhumane conditions in which KFC raises its cashiers.
Absolutely chilling. Shame on KFC.
Following a harrowing, months-long undercover investigation, Amnesty International has released a report detailing the inhumane conditions many of KFC’s hourly employees are forced to work under, with shocking photos of one of the cramped, hazardous warehouses where cashiers are raised by the thousands. From birth until they reach full maturity at age 16 and are sent to work at KFC franchises, these cashiers’ days are spent living atop their own waste and discarded hairnets in almost total darkness, being brutally molded to serve as ideal KFC employees.
Below are a few never-before-seen photos of the appalling conditions the cashiers are subjected to. (WARNING: These images contain depictions of abuse and severe neglect, and they may be disturbing to some readers).
Jesus Christ. We’ve lost our appetite, probably forever.
Sadly, it’s not just the environment these cashiers are raised in that’s so horrific, but also how they are raised and conditioned to be docile employees. Fed from a massive industrial trough filled with leftover KFC Famous Bowls, these cashiers often gain weight rapidly, to the point that they are not only bursting out of their red and black, KFC-branded collared shirts and hats, but that their fingers are often too large to operate a cash register without hitting multiple buttons at once.
In response to the controversy, PR representatives for Yum! Brands, KFC’s corporate parent, have entered full damage control mode, issuing a series of statements insisting that the company “strives to source their cashiers ethically, and that the environment depicted in these photos does not meet KFC’s standards. Our relationship with the contractor in question has been terminated. We are now taking every effort to earn customer’s trust back, by ensuring that all our suppliers breed their cashiers in spacious facilities with access to clean water and toilets, as they deserve.”
Let’s hope this isn’t just lip service.
The fast food industry is no stranger to controversies and unethical practices, but this latest bombshell is appalling on a whole new level. Fingers crossed that this new public scrutiny will force KFC to clean up their act and treat their employees like the human beings they are.
