> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://brain-food.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Adding (or subtracting?) hope - URL: https://brain-food.ghost.io/adding-or-rather-subtracting-hope-2/ - Published: 2024-07-26T13:19:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-03T13:40:49.000Z - Author: Adèle Sulcas - Tags: #Migrated-1793712467887, #sqs, #Import 2026-11-03 13:27 26 July 2024 - When I told my daughter I was working on a story about Siya Kolisi’s partnership with KFC’s “Add Hope” campaign, she smiled and squinted at me snarkily (she’s 12), cocked her head, and said, “what?!” I explained that it was a partnership between KFC, and Siya and Rachel Kolisi’s foundation. “Oh,” she said, “do they look after children?” Yes, I said – they invest in education, good nutrition, sports and children’s development, and the money raised from KFC will go towards school breakfasts for 6 primary schools in Zwide, the part of the Eastern Cape where Kolisi grew up, himself a beneficiary of one free school meal a day. “Well,” she said, “they shouldn’t be giving them KFC, then.” Quite. Still, a few points to unpack here. First, “they” are actually not giving the children KFC. The Kolisi Foundation is one of a vague number of beneficiaries of KFC’s ‘Add Hope’ campaign, and will receive money (not fried chicken) to help pay for nutritious meals for the kids at 6 primary schools, which presumably will not be KFC. Second, my daughter is no slouch, but her immediate reaction to this news was to assume – as will most viewers of KFC’s ‘Add Hope’ videos and other advertisements – that KFC’s own product is part of this deal. And KFC’s own product is doing a lot more harm, over time, to millions of South Africans, than the (unquestionable) benefit for thousands of children from receiving a free meal at school. Third, and not least importantly, Siya Kolisi is undoubtedly, unimpeachably, an excellent person, with the best of intentions, trying to redress a fraction of the injustices wrought upon South African school children by the failures of 30 years of democracy (more than TK children and TK households in South Africa experience chronic hunger), and which the South African government has so far failed spectacularly to address (more than 3 million children in South Africa are hungry, and more than one quarter, 27%, are stunted due to malnutrition). A case study of KFC, Maverick Citizen reported in June 2024, found that the ‘Add Hope’ campaign has increased trust in the brand – as it was designed to do: ‘Add Hope’ “commands awareness levels of over 75% among consumers,” said the case study, quoting the KFC ‘script’ for the campaign, “which leads to increased affinity for KFC. Consumers say that they’re more likely to buy from KFC because of Add Hope.” Yes, ‘Add Hope’ is having a net short-term benefit for its beneficiaries – the children on the receiving end of feeding schemes and soup kitchens run by ‘Add Hope’s some 130 beneficiary organisations. But the long term benefit accrues solely to KFC, the brand association with Siya Kolisi ensuring that a generation of children aspire to link themselves to the same brand, and consider it aspirational, and most likely not understanding how damaging this particular food high in unhealthy fats, salt and added sugar is to their development and their long-term health and well-being. Siya Kolisi is a national hero, and there is not an iota of doubt that he and his wife Rachel’s intent in partnering their foundation with KFC’s ‘Add Hope’ marketing campaign is to expand the reach and the resources of the [Kolisi Foundation’s work](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi0UaNMsHsU&ref=brain-food.ghost.io). But (a) the fact that there is scientific reasoning behind the WHO's regulations and (b) the fact that the Kolisi's are aligning with KFC is a perfect example of why government regulation needs to prohibit brand associations that could have damaging downstream effects, irrespective of the foundation's/cause's unimpeachable intentions.