Servin’ up bad manners

No wonder this television advert sparked over one thousand complaints!  It makes speaking with your mouthful socially acceptable. The fact that a Zinger Chicken Salad explicitly makes it tolerable speak to your colleagues with a mouthful is one of the many reasons why I loathe this advert.

 

The thing that annoys me most about this advert is the fact that not only is it set in a call centre, but it is set in an emergency call centre! Just imagine how you would feel if you were mid crisis, you called someone to help you at your time of need, and you were confronted with someone singing down the phone at you incoherently with a mouthful of Kentucky fried chicken. That would not calm my nerves in the least bit!

A spokeswoman from KFC said “the advert is intended to be humorous”. Who’s sense of humour the advert appeals to I will don’t know? The funniest and cleverest thing about the advert is the catchy alliteration used right at the end of the advert: “servin’ up soul”. Even that is not that big or that clever!

The majority of people that complained to the Advertising Standards Authority are parents and although I’m not a parent I can empathise entirely with them. Not only does the advert encourage children to speak with their mouthful, but it makes it socially acceptable in our society. It begs the questions what do advertisers think should become socially acceptable next?

To be honest I would never buy a Zinger Chicken Salad from KFC out of principle. Those annoying people from the emergency call centre, singing annoyingly, with a mouthful of annoying Kentucky fried chicken are enough to put anyone off from being able to stomach their lunch.