So you might have heard that Nando’s Australia is trying to work the credit crunch trauma into a nice angle for their latest discount offering. The press release reports that theyre giving away free chicken. Well… not exactly.

Nando’s national marketing manager, Justin Monaghan said: “With all the doom and gloom and the slide in the Australian dollar, we thought that it was time to find a way for consumers to double their money.

“In Tuesday’s Herald Sun and in News Limited publications across the country, Nando’s is running the offer of two for one chickens, doubling chicken orders on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday for FREE.

“We want people to steal their neighbours’ copy, grab the one left behind on the train or, if necessary, go and buy as many as they can carry.

“We’re challenging the Australian public to do the Aussie thing and flip the bird at the US,” he said.

Okay, that sounds finger lickin good (sorry, wrong brand) but just how effective are campaigns or taglines that try to thematically link to topical news items like this?

Personally, although I can usually hoover a chicken wing as fast as the next person, the use of the word pumping in their slogan Were pumping more chicken into the economy just reminds me that chickens are injected with all sorts of steroids and other suspicious chemicals. Maybe Im alone in that association but it just left me craving a bird-free salad sandwich.