An article by Adweek reports KFC launched what it calls the “All Hail Gravy” ad in mid-March to reach a younger customer base in the United Kingdom. The ad is technically “part two” of KFC’s “Believe” campaign that is advertising chicken by depicting a forest-dwelling cult of chicken eaters who worship a giant golden egg.
Yes, that’s really what the ad depicts.
Even though controversy sells in advertising, KFC UK told Adweek the goal was to “bring an entertaining antidote to this dull, chaotic world.”
In other words, the ad is supposed to be funny.
The ad got the attention of One Million Moms, the family advocacy group that is a ministry of the American Family Association. OMM director Monica Cole tells AFN the gravy-dunking scene is clearly meant to mock Christianity and baptism, and she points out KFC UK would never mock Islam and its tenets in ads.
“We're speaking out because we don't want it to air here,” he says, “and we feel they should cancel it in the UK as well."
The irony of KFC's faith-mocking ad is Harland Sanders, the founder of KFC, accepted Jesus Christ late in life at age 77.
“You got to get God in your heart, and you’ve got to get in His heart, too," Sanders once said.
Even though Great Britain’s modern population is known for turning its back on Christianity and church attendance, Great Britain’s government advertising regulator has been hit with nearly 600 complaints about the commercial and its themes of cult worship and cannibalism.
Despite those complaints, the Advertising Standards Authority has not investigated the ad but also determined it doesn’t break its advertising rules, the Adweek article said.
Editor's Note: The American Family Association is the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
