KFC India is Turning Clicks into Bricks

Sep 24, 2014 12:20 PM ET

Yum! Global Newsroom: Community

KFC India is helping build libraries and playgrounds for children in rural Ladakh, doing so not just brick by brick but also click by click.

The effort is part of the brand's #KFCWishBucket campaign, which originated in December 2013 as a way to help grant holiday wishes to social media users who tweeted using that hashtag. At that time, requests ranged from gadgets to providing blankets for those in need.

On Sept. 2nd this year, KFC received a much larger request from 17000 ft. Foundation, an organization dedicated to strengthening educational opportunities for children in the remote schools of Ladakh, an area with minimal infrastructure and resources:

Since partnering with 17000 ft. Foundation to fulfill the unique wish, KFC has engaged fans and celebrities via social, with #KFCWishBucket tweets generating more than 8000 public mentions. The playgrounds and libraries come alive with every tweet: after including the hashtag in their post, fans see a virtual brick containing their profile photo added to the digital representation of the project at KFCwishbucket.com.

"This is our biggest #KFCWishBucket program yet," said Niren Chaudhary, President, Yum! India. "We feel privileged to make a difference in these schools of Ladakh which operate in such a harsh terrain, struggling with bare minimum infrastructure."

"This is truly in the spirit of giving back to the community," said Sujata Sahu, Founder, 17000 ft. Foundation. "We are glad that responsible corporations like KFC are willing to make that difference".