Posted on 03/26/2025 11:49:16 PM PDT by Morgana
An ad from KFC that debuted in the United Kingdom and Ireland earlier this month has prompted hundreds of complaints for depicting what some have interpreted as a mockery of Christian baptism and glamorizing of cultish behavior.
The two-minute ad titled "Believe Part 2 All Hail the Gravy," which can be viewed on YouTube, depicts a young man walking through the woods when he stumbles across a chicken. He then encounters a group of people carrying a giant golden egg toward a lake of gravy.
A female character then carries the man into the lake, where she dunks him in what appears to be an initiation ceremony before he emerges reborn as a fried KFC Mini Fillet.
As of Monday, the ad has reportedly prompted nearly 600 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, the U.K.'s independent advertising regulator.
According to DecisionMarketing, a U.K.-based news site about advertising, the reason for the complaints about the KFC ad varied, with some alleging it was disturbing for children to see a man apparently drowned, while others were offended that the ad appeared to make light of baptism.
"We’re currently assessing these to establish whether there are grounds for further action, but just to be clear, we’ve not launched an investigation at this stage," a spokesperson for ASA told the outlet.
Users on the marketing news site Marketing/Beat expressed disgust at the ad, with some calling it "disgusting," a "disgrace" and "beyond the pale." One user accused the ad of featuring and implying "many suspect attitudes, cultism, cannibalism, grooming[.]"
An official press release promoting the ad from KFC UKI described it as "an odyssey through the mystical woodland." It noted the large golden egg symbolized a "guiding light and provides the captivating beat for the choreographed procession of Believers, which is set to an original track."
“The narrative builds to a climax, capturing the anticipation as one of the Believers is immersed in a pool of liquid gold gravy and emerges as a perfectly crispy KFC Mini Fillet above the shimmering gravy lake, to the cheers of the crowd."
“The modern-day fable explores the strong connection KFC fans have with the Original Recipe Chicken and a true cult favorite: the freshly made gravy.”
Monica Silic, chief marketing officer of KFC U.K. and Ireland, said the ad campaign is an attempt to "bring an entertaining antidote to this dull, chaotic world," according to Adweek.
"This is about inspiring the fandom. We’re clear on having a role in culture, which is to bring some lightness and levity to the chaotic world through the truth of our product," she said.
Ads should not be censored. If KFC wants to follow bud light, let them.
I thought I was the only one who kept getting that dream.
lol
,,, the advertising is in line with the toxicity of the product. Maybe the anti-biotics in the chicken needs to leach into the copywriters.
Three months ago I went to the KFC in town but I threw out the food because it tasted terrible. I gave it another try a few weeks later, same inedible garbage. I went by it yesterday and it is out of business.
KFC gravy cult.
I think real Christianity can withstand that.
“I think real Christianity can withstand that.”
Of course, it CAN; it’s withstood much worse. Still, it’s tacky and off-putting to Christians. Maybe the chick who did the Dylan Mulvaney ad at Budweiser moved over to KFC corporate when she left Bud.
Tone deaf for sure.
Chick fil-A exists. I just assumed all normal people were already going there instead.
Heheh.
On a serious note, I think things that aggravate Christians are good because Christians need to be riled up. We need to be mad enough to start fighting back.
Christianity is the heart of Western civilization and if we don't start fighting back, Western civilization is going to be destroyed by the Left.
“I think things that aggravate Christians are good because Christians need to be riled up.”
Which shouldn’t be focused totally on issues in society like offensive ads. Christians need to begin getting “riled up” over issues in their own churches which are deteriorating so badly.
ME: I had a dream the other night...
HIM: (grinning widely) Oooh! Oooh! Was it the one where I was standing on a stage while naked women throw pickles at me???!!
ME: Err...no...I, uh...
HIM: Oh! Am I the only one who ever has that dream?
I agree that we can multitask on these things.
Definitely multi-task.
Yes!
I do see this on various FR discussions where someone says “Paying attention to [insert thing here] is a distraction. We need to put our energies into [insert different thing here]
I always think “Hey! Can’t we do both? We are intelligent conservative adults-we can multitask effectively!”
“We are intelligent conservative adults-we can multitask effectively!”
That’s true, although I find that the older I get, the harder it is to multi-task. In my career, multi-tasking was real life, you did it, and you did it well. Now. ugh
Me too but mine is more realistic. There is never enough gravy and they want to charge you 59 cents for an extra cup.
Oh, I know what you mean! I am retiring in a few months, and I certainly don’t do as well at multitasking!
But in reality (people tell me this, and I am hesitant to believe it) it is said that if you are multitasking, you aren’t doing the best job you could on anything.
I have to believe we can multitask, otherwise, I am not sure I could do my job at all!
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