Some restaurants famed for their chicken offerings just seem to get it when it comes to their advertising.

You may have noticed the Nando’s #Mzansipoli ad airing on telly, and Chicken Licken also has a habit of delivering the goods.

As for KFC? Shem.

South African viewers won’t have seen this advert for the Zinger Popcorn Box, which aired in Australia, and has led to a public apology from KFC.

First up, here’s the advert:

I guess the connection is that they sell chicken breasts?

Whatever their thinking, it’s backfired, reports the Guardian:

The apology was issued after Collective Shout, an Australian group which campaigns against the objectification of women, labelled the ad “a regression to tired and archaic stereotypes where young women are sexually objectified for male pleasure”…

In a short statement issued on Tuesday, KFC said: “We apologise if anyone was offended by our latest commercial. Our intention was not to stereotype women and young boys in a negative light.”

“Ads like this reinforce the false idea that we can’t expect better from boys. It is another manifestation of the ‘boys will be boys’ trope, hampering our ability to challenge sexist ideas which contribute to harmful behaviour towards women and girls,” [Collective Shout spokeswoman Melinda] Liszewski said.

Despite the apology, the ad is still featured on KFC’s YouTube channel, and they have yet to confirm whether or not they’ll stop airing the ad on TV.

All I’ll say on the matter is that it seems like really lazy advertising, and the pitch probably went something like ‘boobs, boys, chicken – tick’.

I prefer our homegrown efforts, thanks.

[source:guardian]