KFC Fans trend on Twitter as they celebrate their love for fried chicken on World Fried Chicken Day!

7 July 2021, JOHANNESBURG -- Yesterday was World Fried Chicken Day, and to celebrate it, KFC asked their fans to ‘tell us how much you love fried chicken without telling us’! 

Tapping into the local “tell me without telling me” trend on social media where people are asked to share something about themselves without actually saying it, this campaign saw some great engagement from their fans, resulting in some hilarious posts and truly demonstrated South Africans’ love for freshly prepared fried chicken.

“It is no secret that South Africans love fried chicken – in fact, let me let you in on a little secret - drumsticks and thighs are firm favourites - but it seems that on fried chicken day our fans celebrated all types of fried chicken! Our campaign reached over 42 000 organic impressions on Twitter alone and almost 10 000 views on Tik Tok! That’s a whole lot of KFC fried chicken loving, although I am not surprised given that we have been spreading finger ******* goodness in South Africa for the past 50 years,” says Suhayl Limbada, Marketing Director at KFC South Africa.

“Social media has certainly become a great tool to engage consumers and of course, Tik Tok, as a newer platform is a key channel to really drive brand love and for consumers to have a little fun,” adds Limbada. 

Some of the funniest campaign moments include a hungry Gorilla stopping in his tracks when he ‘heard about #KFCDay’, a girl dreaming about KFC all day long, a young woman showing us her online KFC order profile – with a whopping 34 recent orders, and a game of charades against a backdrop of a box of dunked wings! 

“South Africans don’t just love fried chicken but have such a great sense of humour and are always up for a laugh. It was great to see the engagement around such an important day on the KFC calendar and one that is celebrated around the world!” continues Limbada. 

The global fried chicken market in fact is so popular that, in a recent survey, it was found that 16% of respondents said they would marry fried chicken if they could. It’s comes as no surprise that South Africa’s most talked about wedding proposal took place at a KFC. 

“The love for fried chicken continues to grow each year. It is predicted that people around the globe are set to eat so much fried chicken that the takeout fried chicken market will reach over R118 million ($8.25 million) by 2025 – that’s only a short 4 years,” states Limbada. 

“For us it is about innovation, value and quality – making sure we serve South African’s fried chicken that meets their changing budgets. And, talking about budgets and love for fried chicken, this month we are helping South Africans beat the lockdown blues with a free piece of chicken with every KFC bucket meal (9,15 or 21 piece) order!”

“South Africa’s love affair with fried chicken will continue in years to come and at KFC we are always innovating to ensure we continue to give consumers the freshly prepared fried chicken goodness they have come to love – to take us into the next 50 years and more!” concludes Limbada. 

About KFC

KFC has been in South Africa for 50 years and has around 960 restaurants across the country. The first KFC restaurant to open in South Africa was in 1971 in Orange Grove, Johannesburg. KFC’s Original Recipe® Chicken was first made by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1940 when he perfected his secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices at his restaurant in Kentucky. Today, KFC is the world's most popular chicken restaurant, still preparing our chicken with the Colonel’s secret recipe to his exact standards. Every KFC restaurant follows the same global processes and procedures to make sure that our customers get great tasting food, every time.