Much has been made of the Susan G. Komen/KFC Buckets for the Cure campaign. And I’m quite sure the “powers that be” at Komen regret the once bright idea to partner with one of the nation’s largest sellers of fried food.

Nancy Schwartz in her blog, Getting Attention, did a wonderful job of analyzing the mistakes Komen made and the lessons any nonprofit or for-profit organization can learn from this situation. However, I disagree with Nancy’s praise of Breast Cancer Action, another organization fighting breast cancer, and their “What the Cluck?” campaign protesting Komen/KFC.

My guess is that Komen has learned a very valuable lesson and will not be partnering with KFC or any other fast food restaurants in the future. What bothers me is a nonprofit that is competing for the same fundraising dollars attacking another organization with a long history of great work. I’m not saying we can’t criticize, but the mistake Komen made was a marketing one, not a research/medical mistake. Komen is working as hard today as ever to cure breast cancer.

While many might think “What the Cluck?” is cute, I personally find it a little in bad taste. And how much good did BCA accomplish by encouraging people to write letters criticizing the Komen/KFC partnership? I think the folks at Komen already know they made a mistake, and those 3,000 people could have instead been encouraged to actually do something that might help cure breast cancer.

The lesson for all of us: Just because something tastes good, doesn’t mean it’s good for you.