• by Thom Forbes  @tforbes, October 3, 2013

Catering to our anti-Zen taste for mindless eating, KFC has launched Go Cup, a plastic container that holds five varieties of munchable delectables and will purportedly fit snugly within 83% of the cup holders nested in the American Consumer’s automobile. 

Potato Wedges are inside each of the five cups offered, which sell for $2.49 each, along with a choice of Chicken Littles sandwiches, Original Recipe Bites, Hot Wings, Original Recipe Boneless, or Extra Crispy Tenders. Each cup represents 500 – 600 calories.

As Eater.com’s Hillary Dixler points out, the company “understands the difficulties of balancing an on-the-go lifestyle with eating fried chicken.” And the Consumerist’s Mary Beth Quirk is archly awed by KFC’s solution to the “complete and total disaster”that eating while motoring has heretofore been: “Luckily, KFC has found a way to quiet the masses clamoring to be free of all fetters whilst dining en vehicle.”

It’s not just flying by the Corinthian-leather seat of its pants, either. KFC data culled from a surveyconducted by Wakefield Research show that the product is filling a need, at least among the highly coveted Millennial demographic. 

It “revealed that 53% of car owners age 18-32 would be more likely to eat in their cars if the food container would fit in a cup holder,” according to a release accompanying the launch. And 35% of Americans describe themselves as “One Hander” eaters in the car — with one hand on their food while keeping the other hand on the wheel.” (And the converse of that latter stat would be 65% are “No Hander” eaters???) Well, what-the-hey. The survey also found that 60% of us apply makeup while behind the wheel (not me) and 33% have caught someone “dancing” in the car (bad habit).

Seriously, Yahoo! Shine’s Sarah B. Weir points to statistics from a number of groups ranging from government agencies to insurance companies that “eating while driving is just as dangerous as talking on a cell phone or texting." 

“Fried chicken even makes the list of 10 riskiest foods to eat while driving,” Weir writes. “Why? Aside from simply diverting your attention from the road intermittently, eating anything greasy means you'll wipe your fingers frequently — another distraction, which also takes your hands off the wheel.” 

In any event, there are still a few kinks to be ironed out. “No word on where you're supposed to put those little cups of dip while driving,” observes Jenn Harris in the Los Angeles Times. “Maybe they can invent a sort of headpiece with a dip straw for that.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Sarah Nassauer takes a look at the larger trend of promoting chicken as a snack. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen's "ip'ns" dishes is another example she looks at in an earlier article where she reports that 17% of all meals ordered at restaurants in the U.S. are now eaten in cars. 

KFC took two years developing the Go Cup packaging, according to Susan Miles, KFC’s manager of packaging engineering. 

“Much to my chagrin there are no standards in the car industry on cup holder size and height,” Miles says. But “capitalizing on what KFC calls its ‘bucket equity,’ the cup echoes the shape of its family-size meal buckets,” Nassauer continues. 

A spot out of Draftfcb plays on the classic stereotype of men in blue munching on fast food in their squad car. A wily veteran cop sends a rookie out to handle a call on his own so he can swipe one of his “f’d” (we can’t say “fried” right?) Go Cup treats. 

KFC also is running a promotion suggesting that consumers post a photo of themselves with their Go Cup to Instagram with the hashtag #GOCUPGO.(But don’t forget to turn your Instagram “Posts are Private” settings OFF and “Location Services” ON before you do.) 

There will be five weekly “swag winners” awarded gear such as shades or a screen cleaner emblazoned with the Go Cup logo. Five grand prize winners, to be selected on Nov. 11, will not only get a choice of an iPhone compatible photography kit or a Polaroid Z2300 but also will be appointed as KFC Social Correspondents, which means “you will be in the exclusive group of people that KFC follows on Instagram."

Well, it’s a heckuvan easier path to media fame and fortune than J school.