British advertising watchdog roasts KFC over advert claims

LONDON – Britain’s advertising watchdog found yesterday that an ad for US fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken was ‘misleading’ viewers into thinking that fresh chicken was delivered to branches daily.

The advert showed a young chef dusting a tray of chicken on the bone with flour, saying: ‘The secret to producing the best food is using the right ingredients. Like this chicken, came in fresh this morning.’A voice-over at the end of the advertisement said: ‘KFC. Fresh, on the bone chicken, every store, every day.’However, the Advertising Standards Authority found that because the meat was only delivered to branches three times per week, the advert should not be shown again without being altered.’We understood that chicken on the bone was delivered three times a week to KFC restaurants,’ the ASA said.’However, we considered the claims ‘Came in fresh this morning’ and ‘Fresh chicken on the bone, every store, every day’ implied that the chicken was delivered daily.’We concluded that the ad was likely to give viewers a misleading impression of the frequency of deliveries.’KFC UK has 760 stores and 20 000 employees in Britain and Ireland.A spokesman for the firm said it was ‘disappointed’ by the ruling and ‘did not intend to mislead anyone’.’The advert simply conveyed the message that our chicken on the bone is delivered fresh rather than frozen and is prepared by hand, in store, every day,’ he added. ‘The advert has now been revised’.- Nampa-AFP