Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has decided to pause using its “finger lickin’ good” slogan.
Several months after health officials suggested that everyone stop touching their faces to help avoid coronavirus spreading, KFC said Monday the 64-year-old slogan “doesn’t sound quite right.”
Catherine Tan-Gillespie, global chief marketing officer at KFC in a statement.
“We find ourselves in a unique situation. Having an iconic slogan that doesn’t quite fit in the current environment.”
The menu isn’t changing and the company said the slogan will return when the “time is right.”
The announcement on Monday is a publicity campaign, to be honest. A smart one, perhaps, baked into it with good intentions. But then, it is still a publicity campaign.
KFC blurred the logo seen on old billboards and signs in a cheeky ad published on their YouTube channel.
Like other fast-food outlets, KFC uses strange, self-effacing and often hokey marketing ploys to get consumers into their shops.
KFC Has Poked Fun
Fast food is a low-growth, zero-loyalty company with razor-thin margins. So, any customer bump is a huge win for quick-serve chain restaurants.
In the past, KFC has poked fun at itself by hawki chicken-scented clogs, chicken-scented yule logs, and, best of all, “finger lickin’ good” chicken-flavored edible nail polish (that one’s probably not coming back anytime soon. (Health experts, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have been urging people to wear masks, wash their hands thoroughly and avoid touching their faces as way to prevent Covid-19 from spreading.)
Similar to other fast food restaurants, in March, KFC briefly closed down its dining rooms and allowed customers to order from their drive-thrus or delivery.
It also installed countertop Plexiglas barriers between employees and customers, mandated staff to wear masks and introduced pre-shift health screenings.
Sales at KFC have bounced back dramatically in recent months after a couple of months of utterly horrendous foot traffic at the restaurant, as customers seek indulgences during a especially difficult span in history. KFC owns Yum! Brands which owns Pizza Hut and Taco Bell as well.
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