KFC’s sexually suggestive ad reveals a brand that now knows its market
In this guest post, Nic Hayes says he believes KFC’s sexually suggestive Hot & Spicy ‘Coming Soon’ ad served to prove the brand has now worked out exactly who its audience is and what they want from the brand.
I was watching TV last night and up came the advertisement for KFC ‘hot and spicy’ chicken. A family-friendly themed advertisement with the usual characters you might find in a fast food television commercial.
The family, the young people, the working man and the like, all enjoying a hearty meal of chicken.
Normally a fast food advertisement wouldn’t even register any interest but I had heard about this product last week. Last Friday consumers on Twitter got a very different advertisement put in front of them that was highly sexualised with a young couple taking part in an activity that was pixelated to hide a possibly sexual act. It was unclear exactly what was “coming soon”.
Whether the male was being pleasured or the female was genuinely reaching in for a piece of chicken, the advertisement had all the hallmarks and innuendo of an after-hours SBS film.
Hi Nic,
I hope you’re not implying I couldn’t “see immediately the humour behind the piece”. My complaint is that it wasn’t funny. In fact, it was boring. For KFC to turn around and claim they didn’t mean to offend is ridiculous. I think I would have been much happier if they’d done it in a way that wasn’t so tired and predictable.
That, by the way, is the same complaint I have about mainstream media houses – it’s all tried and true. Let’s see more and better creativity, especially on social media.
What Sarah said. This is tired and predictable, and simply not funny. I guess it’s impressive in the context of KFC’s back catalogue, but hardly worth an opinion piece.
To your question, Nick, of course this isn’t what campaigns need today. If you have a look at the article five rows down from your own, you have an excellent example of what a fast food brand can do to get some attention (the McWhopper).
And as for KFC’s apology, why apologise at all? Own up to it, then we’d at least think your were kinda genuine in your comms
I’m a fan of KFC and have been in awe of their social media presence for a number of years. Their consistency combined with an exceptional evolution in tone and delivery shows some real smarts behind their socials.
My friends and I regularly comment on a number of KFC’s posts and they are always quick with a humorous response that matches our passion for the brand/product.
In context, as a long term ‘follower’, this tweet was perfectly in the tone of all their previous posts. While for all intents and purposes this has been described as an ‘ad’ it shouldn’t be judges as a standalone piece.
You would safely assume their legion of followers is Under 40, and if a ‘grown-up’ follows KFC I’d also assume they would not find this offensive.
This is a storm in a small chips.