The commercial advert by global fast-food restaurant chain, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in the United Kingdom (UK), has rubbed people off the wrong way.
The ad titled “Believe Pat 2: All Hail the Gravy” which debuted earlier this month, shows a teenager walking through a forest before he comes across a live chicken.
A group of people carrying a huge golden egg towards what seems to be a gravy lake, appear out of nowhere to surround him.
They then lead him to the lake, where he is dipped in, and comes out as a fried chicken.
This was met with numerous interpretations and some conspiracy as to what kind of messaging the restaurant is trying to communicate to its customers.
The complaints regarding the ad range from other people describing it as a mockery to Christian baptism, promoting cults and others went as far as raising concerns that it is a depiction of cannibalism.
The KFC UK and Ireland Marketing officer, Monica Silic, has however sought to defend the ad.
“The Believe campaign is designed to entertain.
It provides a break from the often chaotic or dull real world.
It is our way of sharing our absolute chicken obsession while offering our audience something fun that they can believe in amidst the noise,” said Silic.
Adverts have changed significantly over the years, and while the aim is to increase consumers’ interaction with brands, they sometimes invoke undesirable emotions.
Some of the most controversial ads which faced backlash in the past include Nivea’s ‘white is purity’ 2017 campaign, Burger King’s 2021 “women belong in the kitchen” tweet, footwear Reebok’s “cheat on your girlfriend, not on your workout” campaign, among many others.
For most products to succeed, they rely on the creativity of advertising which may either break or make the brand.
