KFC “Mouthfull” Advert

Finger Lickin’ Bad or Just a Bit of Fun?

Let’s set the stage.

It’s 2005, and KFC, the fast-food giant known for its bucket of chicken, decides to release an advert in the UK that would go down in history – not for being groundbreaking or revolutionary, but for being an etiquette apocalypse that had the British public more infuriated than if they’d just seen someone make a cup of tea putting the milk in first.

Enter the KFC “Mouthfull” ad, which finds itself in the dubious position of being one of the most complained-about ads in the UK. And let’s be honest, we Brits love a good complaint, especially when it involves table manners (or the lack thereof). After all, isn’t there something beautifully tragic about an advert that could inspire so much public outrage for doing something as trivial as talking with your mouth full?

Note:

This article features content from the Marketing Made Clear podcast. You can listen along to this episode on Spotify:

The Offending Scene

Picture this: a dreary call centre, grey as a British winter, where a group of young women are answering phones with all the enthusiasm of someone waiting for a bus in the rain. Enter the Zinger Crunch Salad, a bright, shiny distraction, and suddenly, the main character starts talking… with her mouth full.

Cue the collective gasps.

“Hello?” she mumbles through a mouthful of crispy lettuce and spicy chicken. The line crackles. She repeats herself, still chewing away like someone who clearly never got the memo about ‘Don’t talk with your mouth full.’ And thus, a thousand mothers screamed at their televisions in horror, “Please, won’t somebody think about the children?!”

Etiquette Crisis: The Horror!

The complaints rolled in.

People were outraged that KFC, in their infinite wisdom, had the audacity to promote something as horrifying as bad manners.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received over 1,600 complaints, making it one of the most infamous ads in the UK. The general public seemed to fear that if children saw this, they’d soon be chomping away at the dinner table, happily chatting with mashed potatoes spilling from their mouths.

One can only imagine the chaos at mealtimes across the nation!

But really, were we all so naive as to think this ad would single-handedly destroy generations of good manners? Was the KFC Mouthfull advert a shining example of car crash marketing, or was it just a clever play to make us laugh and buy more chicken?

Car Crash Marketing or Hidden Genius?

On the surface, this could easily be seen as a prime example of car crash marketing: an ad so wildly out of sync with the public’s taste that it ends up swerving off the road, crashing, and causing a media pile-up.

But the big question is really: did it work?

Despite (or maybe because of) the complaints, the ad gained massive attention. People talked about it, and that’s the entire point of marketing, isn’t it? Car crash or not, KFC’s Mouthfull advert got people buzzing. The controversy pushed it into the spotlight, making it impossible to ignore.

There’s a bizarre charm in the way KFC sidestepped the traditional format of advertising. The ad doesn’t even bother with a slow buildup. No, it skips straight to the good stuff, shoving that salad right in our faces and letting us fill in the blanks. It’s almost like they’re saying, “Yeah, our salad’s so good, you won’t even care if you break a few manners while eating it.”

Besides, isn’t this just KFC doing what it does best?

I mean, KFC isn’t exactly a high-brow establishment where you’re expected to use two forks and a napkin folded like a swan. It’s “finger-lickin’ good”… made for eating with your hands! This was never going to be an ad for people who uphold the highest standards of etiquette!

It’s seemingly just another example of an avert outraging an unintended audience…. taking us back to the topic of RELEVANCE!

Timing Is Everything: Right Ad, Wrong Audience?

The real issue is again (see the Wrigley’s and Pot Noodle Ads) not the ad itself, but the unfortunate timing of it. KFC was clearly targeting a younger, more relaxed audience. But the ad aired at a time when children could be watching, and that’s where the complaints really started to pile up.

Parents feared their kids would pick up bad habits, and as a parent I do get that… I do understand why people are upset but I can’t help but think this reaction is a bit overblown, given that this ad has become the most complained ad of all time in the UK. It’s not like the ad showed someone cutting their nails at the dinner table or spitting food out – they’re probably two worse examples off the top of my head!

It was just a cheeky nod to the idea that sometimes, life is too busy, and food is too good to wait until your mouth is empty to answer the phone – not nice, don’t do it… but adverts are usually metaphoric rather than realistic portrayals… we do understand that right?

Surely kids will recover from such an outrageous scandal…?

Banned Ads: A Cult Classic in the Making?

What’s ironic is that getting banned or heavily criticised can sometimes be the best thing to happen to an advert. Think about the 90s—heavy metal albums with explicit labels flew off the shelves, The Exorcist became a cult classic, and George Orwell’s 1984 only gained more notoriety with every attempt to suppress it.

OK, this advert isn’t on that level, but we’re still talking about it nearly 20 years after it aired… Do they even make a Zinger Crunch Salad anymore?

Like I said, KFC’s Mouthfull advert, though not quite in the same league as Orwell’s masterpiece (my favourite book), but it has gained its own kind of cult status. It lives on, forever etched in the annals of advertising history as the ad that dared to speak with its mouth full.

And if you go way back to the conceptualisation of this advert…. It’s an advert for a salad… A SALAD!!!!

You don’t win friends with salad. That’s probably the root of all of this come to think of it.

Final Thoughts: Is It Really That Bad?

The Mouthfull advert may not have been to everyone’s taste, but it wasn’t exactly causing anarchy either. Sure, it encouraged a little bit of bad table manners, but at the end of the day, it was just an advert about a salad. A crunchy, spicy, “delish” salad that probably sold quite well in the aftermath of the controversy.

So, was it car crash marketing?

Maybe. But sometimes, a little crash is all you need to get people talking—and ordering some finger-lickin’ good chicken.

In the words of KFC: It’s just “serving up soul.”