Which Fast Food Joint Put Shreveport In This 1999 TV Commercial
I've had the conversation with a lot of Shreveport residents about the "peak" of Shreveport. Obviously it's not right now, with rampant crime and poverty. It hasn't felt like a "peak" for the city at any point since 2015. But when I ask people to give me a 10 year period of when Shreveport's "peak" was, I commonly hear a timeframe that involves the late 90s and early 2000s.
Sure, there are some who've told me its the 70s or 80s, but there were riots and gang crime during those periods. Same for the early 1990s. But in the late 90s through 2010, the city saw a historic drop in crime, "Hollywood of the South" took off, sports in the city flourished, and looking back at pictures and videos from that time...people just seemed happier.
Its probably safe to say the "peak" of Shreveport took place somewhere between 1999 and 2009. Give or take a few years.
If you aren't buying it, let's try an experiment using the miracle of television advertisements. I will submit this question, you don't have to answer to anyone but yourself...
"Could you imagine modern day Shreveport being casually mentioned in a national TV ad that doesn't have anything to do with murder or theft?"
Just answer to yourself. Now go back to 1999, when the Shreveport Captains were making a run to the playoffs that year, with future MLB players Nate Bump, Doug Clark, Damon Minor, Chris Magruder, Scott Linebrink, Kevin Joseph, Cody Ransom, Ryan Vogelsong, Chad Zerbe and Yorvit Torrealba. As well as future World Series Champion Pedro Feliz and future 6-time MLB All Star Joe Nathan. That's what earned a reference in this national ad.
KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken of course) was running an ad for their three piece Colonel Strip combo meal, and included a reference to the Shreveport Captains. The commercial references a minor league baseball player getting traded around, and no matter where he goes, he can get KFC.
It's the 8th commercial in this video, you can watch the whole thing below, or just click here to go right to the commercial:
It didn't seem too odd to have Shreveport in a relatively wholesome TV commercial back in 1999. It would be borderline scandalous to have Shreveport featured now. The city isn't really KFC commercial ready, as much as it is "First 48" ready.