KFC gets fried for advert.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has received 766 complaints about the new KFC ad – less than two weeks after it was released.
Titled ‘All Hail Gravy’, the ad was developed by ad agency Mother, and depicts a man being baptised in a lake of gravy before transforming into a chicken nugget. Take a look:
Viewers have contacted the watchdog saying it is “distressing for children to see”, as the man “is apparently drowned or deep-fried”, the ASA told Marketing Beat.
Complainants also believe the ad “promotes cannibalism” and “glorifies cults [or] satanism”. Others felt that it “mocks Christianity” and the practice of Baptism.
“At this current time, we’ve received more than 750 complaints about the KFC ad,” said a spokesperson for the ASA.
“The complaints we’ve received are quite varied.”
The watchdog is currently assessing the complaints “to establish whether there are grounds for further action”, but is yet to have launched an investigation.
The two-minute spot was posted on KFC’s UK and Ireland YouTube page on the 14th March. The description reads: “Do you find yourself lost in the woods of modern life? Fear not, for salvation in sauce is near. Trust in the thumping sound of the golden egg. Trust in the liquid gold elixir. Trust in the divine dunk. And whisper the sacred words ‘All Hail Gravy’. Because there’s some things we can still believe in. Believe In Chicken.”
It is not the first time the fast-food chain has released an ad which has attracted complaints in the UK From people who clearly have nothing better to do.
In 2017, KFC’s ad featuring a dancing chicken attracted 755 complaints, making it the most complained about advert of the year. It also topped the annual list in 2005 after it received 1,671 complaints for its Zinger Crunch Salad ad.
