KFC, C-Bombs, and Clickbait
Anyone who spends any amount of time on the internet will have fallen victim to clickbait. A sensationalist headline, promising something you WON’T BELIEVE. You can, in fact, believe, and it’s more than a little disappointing when you realise it’s just another listicle of mildly amusing Twitter screenshots.
Recently, however, clickbait has got a little more sophisticated — like KFC warning audiences that they were about to ‘drop the C-bomb’ across national television, the internet, and print media.
Now of course they didn’t launch into profanity while horrified viewers scrambled for the mute button — but relied on the scandalous nature of such a phrase to draw in viewers so they could make what amounts to a pretty important and measured statement about…. chicken welfare. Of course, that C-bomb.
KFC has been criticised for a long time about their failure to talk about the welfare of their livestock, while other fast food giants like McDonalds have made it a part of their marketing for a considerable time now. While KFC have been putting in efforts to improve animal welfare at their sites, and indeed KFC UK & Ireland recently became the only business to be awarded top tier status in World Animal Protection’s Pecking Order 2021 report, they have not spoken about it so publicly before.
Clickbait was popularised in the early 2010s, especially by brands such as Buzzfeed and Upworthy, who used it as a marketing tactic to create ‘“curiosity gaps” guaranteed to rake in fresh readers through catchy headlines.’ In its hay-day, it worked best by humanising companies, bringing audiences and brands onto the same level, and sharing something fun. A decade later, it’s a little bit of a joke.
However, this kind of large scale, tongue-in-cheek clickbait seems to have done the trick. Who wouldn’t, on seeing the headline ‘KFC drops the C-bomb’ click to find out what on earth was going on? Unlike old fashioned clickbait, where audiences can feel duped by an exaggerated promise and thoroughly mediocre results, KFC have balanced neatly the humour of the joke tagline, and the seriousness of their message.
The campaign was created by Mother, and its creative director James Ross-Edwards points out that getting a large amount of attention is especially what a worthy cause needs — whatever the method. “KFC’s commitment to chicken welfare is a big deal, so we wanted to make sure it got the attention it deserves. Plus, what an honor to be dropping the C-Bomb on national TV.”
