For years, fans of KFC have had one major issue with the fast food chain: the French fries on the U.K. menu (it’s way different from the one we have here in the U.S.). And they haven’t had any qualms about sharing these opinions on their social media accounts. A lot of fans have tweeted that, while they love the chicken, they can’t get behind the fries… these fans just probably never expected the brand to ever read these tweets, let alone respond to them. Well, that has changed, because KFC just responded to people bashing their fries, and it looks like they took the criticism seriously.
KFC decided to promote three different tweets — on both Twitter and in advertisements in the United Kingdom across British high streets— that criticized their fries. The choice to promote negative tweets obviously seemed odd to pretty much everyone.
The tweets included one from about four years ago, from a woman who probably has an insane amount of notifications from Twitter on her phone right now.
https://twitter.com/charliejburness/status/498913000792023040
The second tweet simply read, “no one likes your fries” and was also promoted.
Dear KFC
No one likes your fries.
Yours sincerely,
The entire world.
— Upgrade (UK) (@upgrade_music) February 5, 2018
And the last tweet was from 2016 and read, “how can KFC be so good at chicken and so bad at fries?”
how can KFC be so good at chicken and so bad at fries?
— Adam. (@AdumOnline) December 16, 2016
There’s method to the Twitter madness: KFC is relaunching their fries with a brand new recipe, which they revealed on their U.K. Twitter account by replying to one of the tweets. Talk about an unexpected marketing ploy.
Dear @upgrade_music
You told us no one liked our fries.
So new ones are coming soon.
Yours sincerely,
KFC pic.twitter.com/DxPRh50apV
— KFC UK (@KFC_UKI) November 2, 2018
According to Insider, the new fries are “thicker, chunkier, and have the skin on, leading some people to compare them to Five Guys’ famously popular fries.”
Jack Hinchliffe, innovation director for KFC’s U.K. and Ireland branches, spoke about the ad strategy (called the “Ain’t No Small Fry” campaign) to BBC, saying, “We don’t change things on a whim — the Colonel’s ‘Original Recipe’ chicken hasn’t changed since he finalized it in 1940. This was different, though. We heard the nation’s outcry. We read the brutal tweets. We had to step up our fries game. Thicker, chunkier, tastier. Job done.”
This isn’t the first time the chain has tried some more unique advertising strategies. In February, many KFC locations in the U.K. ran out of chicken, and apologized to customers in an ad that featured an empty KFC bucket that had the label “FCK” on it instead. It’s pretty clear that they know how to get a lot of attention!
Unfortunately, if you don’t live in the U.K., you might not be able to try KFC’s new and improved fries. The U.S. is still stuck with potato wedges and mashed potatoes (which, TBH, are pretty yummy). The all-new fries launch in KFC’s U.K. branches on November 19th, and there’s no word on if they’ll be coming to the United States as well. We’ll just be sitting here, not-so-patiently waiting.
