KFC’s surreal ad – which appears to show a man inducted into a cult, before being baptised in a lake of gravy and transformed into a fried nugget – has become the most complained about advertisement of the year, to date.
A spokesperson for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) told Marketing Beat it had received 1,141 complaints about the ad (as of 14 April).
The figure would top the list of “most complained about ads”, in some previous years. It is also higher than the 755 complaints for KFC’s dancing chicken ad, the most the ASA received in 2017.
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Titled ‘All Hail Gravy’, the controversial ad was developed by creative firm Mother.
Unhappy viewers contacted the ASA saying it is “distressing for children to see”, as the man “is apparently drowned or deep-fried”. Others felt the ad “promotes cannibalism”, “glorifies cults [or] satanism” or “mocks Christianity” and the practice of Baptism.
Comments posted on Marketing Beat described the ad as “disturbing” and the stuff of “nightmares”. Other readers said it is not appropriate to be shown to children and should even be banned.
The ASA previously said it will not be investigating the ad. In an updated statement, a spokesperson for the regulator said: “We’re still getting some complaints come in which all need to be assessed individually, but at this time, we won’t be investigating.”
The two-minute spot was posted on KFC’s UK and Ireland YouTube page on 14 March.
Speaking at the time, Mother ECD, Martin Rose said: “KFC is an icon. All of our work respects that. It also respects the audience; they understand that logic is parked for 120 seconds as we go deep into the symbolism of total chicken obsession. It’s a playful escape from the world.”
The second most complained about ad of the year, so far, is for travel firm On the Beach. It features comedian Paddy McGuinness and has attracted “around 900 complaints”.
Marketing Beat has previously approached KFC and Mother for comment.
