KFC Brings Back 'Finger Lickin’ Good' in Ads Saluting Rabid Fans

When KFC runs out of chicken, damn strait it’s an emergency! Still, you shouldn’t call the police. Though passionate fans did just that a few years back in England.

As for rocking Colonel Sanders tattoos, dressing in the brand’s colors, and proposing marriage over a Bargain Bucket, well, the heart and tummy want what they want.

Such outpourings of love and devotion inform Mother London’s latest work for KFC. Ads leverage the chain’s standing in popular culture, underscored by the return of its classic “Finger Lickin’ Good” slogan—which was paused a year ago at the outset of Covid-19.

That’s ’70s soulster Barry White on the soundtrack, pouring it on sweet and smooth with “You’re The First, The Last, My Everything.”

Sure, he’s talking about Original Recipe. It’s so clear now.

“We thought beforehand we’d be using something more contemporary,” a Mother rep tells Muse. “But when we tried Barry, it just worked. Lyrically it might be a bit on the nose, but the ad itself is hardly trying to be subtle. And it just felt fun and upbeat and it captured something about the (cautious) optimism in the air in the U.K. at the moment.”

The anthem spot broke Tuesday night on ITV’s BRIT Awards coverage, and you can check out some billboards below:

Those look like O-faces. We’ll have what they’re having.

“KFC exists in culture, it’s not something that we need to prod and poke people to talk about,” the agency rep says. “People already talk about it. They make TikTok videos about it. They call 999 when the restaurants run out of it. So why not celebrate that?”

CREDITS

Client: KFC UK & Ireland
Campaign: Your Chicken Could Never
Creative: Mother
Strategy: Mother
PR: Freuds 
Media: Mindshare 
TV Director: Rich Hall 
TV Production: Riff Raff