Oh, Colonel Sanders, courtly Southern gent clad in white, peddler of deep-fried, finger-lickin' good sustenance, what's become of you?

Why the menacing, evil-eyed grin? Why are you soaked in blood? What are you doing to that poor chicken? And why does your head bobble so?

The folks at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - the Virginia-based activist organization better known as PETA - have given the venerable fried-chicken frontman a makeover that reflects the group's belief that his company is guilty of "horrific cruelty" to chickens.

PETA has commis-sioned 2,000 knife-wielding "psycho Colonel Sanders" bobble-head dolls as part of its continuing effort to embarrass KFC - the fast-food chain formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken - and force it to change the way its chickens are raised and dispatched.

"We'd like them to stop breeding and drugging chickens so that they grow so big that they actually cripple under their own bulk," says Joe Hinkle, one of the coordinators of PETA's anti-KFC campaign. "We'd like them to stop chopping off the beaks of baby birds. And we'd like them to stop scalding millions of chickens alive each year because they refuse to update their slaughter techniques."

In response, a KFC spokeswoman issued a statement accusing PETA of "corporate terrorist activities."

"PETA has disparaged our brand and misrepresented the truth about our responsible industry-leading animal welfare standards," the statement said. "KFC is committed to the humane treatment of chickens."

David Martosko, research director for the Center for Consumer Freedom, a food industry-funded group, says PETA's anti-KFC campaign is misleading, because its ultimate goal isn't better treatment of chickens, but rather "total animal liberation."

"That doesn't mean that chickens get a little more wing-flapping room," Martosko says. "That means you don't get to eat chicken, period. They want to eliminate chicken from the diet."

He says PETA's campaign is also misleading because it leads people to believe KFC raises the chickens it cooks. Independent suppliers are the ones who are responsible for how the chickens are treated, Martosko says.

PETA counters that, as purchaser of 800 million chickens a year, KFC has the clout to dictate standards for humane treatment. As for PETA's ultimate goal, Hinkle says, "We prefer people adopt a vegetarian diet. But we'd like to improve the lives of chickens when we can."

PETA's anti-KFC offensive is a prominent example of what corporate marketers call "determined detractors," critics who mount their own public relations campaigns against a company or a product. Another well-known determined detractor is Morgan Spurlock, who made the popular anti-McDonald's documentary, "Super Size Me."

"One determined detractor can do as much damage as 100,000 positive mentions can do good," one marketer recently told The New York Times.

In its effort to create a kinder, gentler Colonel, PETA boasts that it has staged 8,000 protests around the world. PETA has delivered coal on Christmas to KFC execs, drenched KFC's chief executive in fake blood and sent an undercover operative into a West Virginia slaughterhouse to document "sadistic abuses" by employees of a KFC supplier.

PETA paid $5 a pop for the 2,000 Colonel Sanders bobble-heads. About 500 have been mailed to news organizations, including The Roanoke Times; Hinkle says the rest will be distributed outside KFC restaurants and at sporting events, including games at the University of Louisville, which is located in KFC's hometown.

PETA sees such shock-inducing doodads as a good way to get its message out. In the past, for example, the group has created Unhappy Meals to attack McDonald's.

The Center for Consumer Freedom's Martosko says PETA likes to pass out such items outside schools, "which fits right into their 'Let's get 'em young attitude'" of trying to reach children before they've had a chance to form their own opinions.

Hinkle says PETA "never hands out things to children under the age of 13 without parents' permission." Besides, he says, "the people who collect bobble-heads tend to be adults anyway."

With its white-mustached leer and knife poised against the neck of a frightened, squawking chicken, the Colonel Sanders dolls would make a, well, uncommon addition to anyone's collection.

"I'm sure the bobble-heads will turn up on eBay," says anti-PETA, pro-KFC researcher Martosko. "I'll probably buy one."

Want more information?

PETA: kentuckyfriedcruelty.com.

Center for Consumer Freedom: animalscam.com.

KFC: yum.com.