KFC Pulls “Finger Lickin’ Good” Ads Amidst Coronavirus Outbreak

Kentucky Fried Chicken — or KFC, in case you didn’t know — is pulling the plug on a brand new advertising campaign in the wake of the rapidly-expanding coronavirus outbreak. In late February, the fast-food chicken restaurant launched a massive advertising effort in the United Kingdom playing off the company’s long-standing “finger lickin’ good” slogan. After health officials started suggesting limiting the times you touched your face throughout the day as the easiest way to help prevent the spread of the virus, KFC has since decided to pull the advertising — or, at the very least, suspend it until things settle down. After all, licking the sauce or leftover fried chicken remnants from your fingers is most certainly worse than touching your face.

According to the London-based marketing news site The Drum, KFC decided to pull the advertising after 163 complaints were lodged with the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority. Prior to the halting of the campaign, it had been running upwards of two weeks.

“It doesn’t feel like the right time to be airing this campaign, so we’ve decided to pause it for now – but we’re really proud of it and look forward to bringing it back at a later date,” the chain says in a statement.

The campaign is anchored by a minute-long television spot, where every frame features KFC attendees licking their fingers, all while set to Chopin’s elegant “Nocturne.” You can see the commercial itself above.

As of Friday, the World Health Organization has confirmed 132,758 infections have been confirmed across the world, resulting in 4,955 deaths. Friday afternoon, 1,970 of those cases and 41 of the deaths have occurred in the United States.