KFC's Colonel Sanders Unknown to American Teens

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - Colonel who?

On the 120th anniversary of Colonel Harland Sanders' birth, the company that he founded has discovered a little more than half of young Americans think he was made up.

The revelation has led KFC to try to raise the dead with a campaign meant to reacquaint people with the man behind the chicken.

Sanders, born on Sept. 9, 1890, used a $105 Social Security check to start KFC when he was 65. That first restaurant, named Sanders Court & Cafe and built in 1930 in Corbin, Ky., would turn into a worldwide chicken empire later known as Kentucky Fried Chicken.

KFC stated that in 1976 he only ranked behind heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali when it came to being the world's most recognizable celebrity.

That isn't the case anymore, at least when it comes to Gen Y. USA Today reported that more than six in 10 Americans aged 18-25, considered KFC's key demographic, could not identify Sanders in KFC's logo.

A survey distributed recently also found that five in 10 think he's fictional, just an icon made up by a corporation like McDonald's Ronald McDonald or Burger King's The King. And three in 10 have no idea who he is.

In comparison, The Consumerist reported in April that children don't even need to be able to read to recognize McDonald's logo. Children grow up with the cartoony character, watch him parade around those Golden Arches on commercials, and can see him pop up at community events and birthday parties across the world.

"Colonel Sanders wasn't Kris Kringle, Father Time or Uncle Sam," stated KFC franchisee John R. Neal in a KFC press release. "He was a living, breathing, wildly successful entrepreneur who impacted our national cuisine."

The public relations campaign, which will utilize social networking outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, includes a contest asking artists to upload a sketch of him onto its website. They can upload it to www.kfc.com/portrait through Sept. 30.

The winner will get $1,100 ’ $100 for each of the herbs and spices in the original recipe ’ and their portrait will hang next to the famous Norman Rockwell portrait of the colonel in the lobby of KFC headquarters. The artist will use paint supplied by KFC which is blended with the 11 herbs and spices.

MainStreet.com is praising the idea, suggesting that focus on the founder "may signal a renewed focus on tradition."

As far as his fall from fame, while it's been 30 years since Sanders died, MainStreet.com said that KFC's logo has become more stylized over the years.

There was also that decision to change from Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC, suggested pop culture blog WalletPop .

USA Today also referred to how KFC "ping-ponged back-and-forth from fried-chicken-maker to grilled chicken specialist" over the past few decades and how Sanders went from his iconic white suit to a red apron in its logo.