The public relations team at KFC has had their work cut out for them after a recent chicken shortage, but they’re able to see the funny side.
The fast food giant has issued an apology in a full page advertisement of the London Evening Standard, following a shortage of chicken that forced hundreds of U.K. stores to close.
The ad, featured in the Friday edition of the paper, included a comic reordering of the brand name’s lettering to spell out “FCK”.
“A chicken restaurant without any chicken. It’s not ideal,” the ad said. “Huge apologies to our customers, especially those who travelled out of their way to find we were closed.”
The advert continued: “It’s been a hell of a week, but we’re making progress, and every day more and more fresh chicken is being delivered to our restaurants. Thank you for bearing with us.”
Up until Feb. 13, KFC’s chicken deliveries were managed by Bidvest, a specialist food distribution group. The chicken shortage came after KFC switched suppliers to DHL.
Social media has reacted positively to the advert, describing it as “cheeky” and “[the] best apology ever”.
https://twitter.com/nishgoyalmusic/status/967060351459233793
Public relations worker Andrew Block took to Twitter to praise the chain’s “masterclass in PR crisis management”.
KFC apologises with a full page ad in today's Metro. A masterclass in PR crisis management.#KFCCrisispic.twitter.com/ZF4SfAuHl5
— Andrew Bloch (@AndrewBloch) February 23, 2018