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Fried chicken giant KFC is ditching its signature “finger lickin’ good” slogan in ads until the coronavirus pandemic is over. The fast food chain axed its 64-year-old catchphrase amid concerns it “doesn’t quite fit in the current environment”. It has released images of new advertising posters with the two world famous key words blurred out leaving just “it’s good” visible.
KFC said it was a temporary suspension as the message did not suit the hygiene message in the new normal. But bosses vowed the phrase would make a comeback “when the time is right”. KFC admitted it had set itself a major headache trying to find a substitute slogan more than six decades after “it’s finger lickin’ good” was enough to identify its fried chicken pieces. Kate Wall, head of advertising at KFC UK said: “People often say that it’s the second movie that’s hardest to get right. The follow-up, the next step.
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And we are facing the same conundrum at the moment. “How do you follow a slogan that’s lasted for 64 years and is as iconic as ours? Well, we know we can do it with a little help from our friends. And you’ll be hearing more from us on this soon.” Unveiling the new look ads with “finger” and “lickin’” pixelated in a YouTube video, KFC told viewers: “That thing we all say? Ignore it. For now.”
Catherine Tan-Gillespie, global chief marketing officer at KFC said: “We find ourselves in a unique situation - having an iconic slogan that doesn’t quite fit in the current environment. “While we are pausing the use of ‘It’s Finger Lickin’ Good’, rest assured the food craved by so many people around the world isn’t changing one bit.”
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The fast food chain which has more than 900 restaurants across the UK and Ireland and employs 27,000 staff recently fell foul of public opinion after its “finger lickin’ good” ads in late February showed diners greedily licking their hands after a meal. It pulled the plug on the campaign in March after a backlash on social media with furious Twitter users slamming it for being in bad taste as the world reeled from Covid-19 deaths and the health message was to regularly wash hands.
Watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the company had voluntarily axed the ads ahead of it receiving complaints.
