KFC have started trolling Netflix’s “Bird Box” in the best way possible

Ever since “A Quiet Place” wowed audiences last year, the internet has been busy asking which one of the remaining senses will be next to take to the big screen. Taste is probably too intangible. Touch has the potential to become pretty NSFW. Fortunately, the good folk at Netflix had a plan in the pipeline. Thanks to post-apocalyptic thriller “Bird Box”, viewers everywhere are now just as terrified to open their eyes as they are to make a sound.

In the film, Sandra Bullock stars as a blindfolded mum who staggers around North America, bumping into suspiciously soft scenery, with two hapless children in tow. The movie’s central conceit dictates that characters cannot use their sight for fear of accidentally catching a glimpse of creatures so hideous that they drive people to suicide if seen even for a second. Unsurprisingly, not everyone has taken this idea as seriously as intended. Already, videos of blind “Bird Box-ing”, in which masked fighters take unsighted swings at one another, have highlighted just how impractical this approach to monster-survival actually is. Now, not to be outdone by the collective wisdom of the internet, the fast food industry have decided to roll up their sleeves and also get involved.

Taking a typically grungy still from the movie featuring Bullock’s character, Malorie, rowing her brood over a dangerous river, fried chicken giants KFC have decided that make some minor alterations to place their signature product front and centre. Rather than have Malorie tentatively listening out for threats to her two young children, the new image shows her arm protectively wrapped around a bucket of chicken. In fairness, who among us wouldn’t go to such lengths to guard their dinner?

In case their image was too subtle for some viewers, the chain decided to put their tongue even further inside their cheek with a typically solemn caption. Underneath Malorie’s carefully protected poultry bucket were inscribed the words, “The only #BirdBox you need. #KFCsg.” Let it never be said that KFC takes itself, or anyone else, too seriously.

Understandably given the scale of current Birdbox-mania, reaction to the tweet, which was first published by the restaurant’s Singapore division, was almost universally positive. Responses ranged from, “Successfully made my day. Thank you KFC,” to, “this is legit the reason i’m going to KFC this weekend.” It might be irreverent, but there’s little doubt that mocking a major movie is an easy way to get attention.

It’s almost a prerequisite for any prominent brand in the modern world to be savvy operators on social media. KFC competitors such as Wendy’s, Burger King and McDonald’s are all experts at executing perfectly timed internet jabs, whether it’s at celebrities, movies or, occasionally, each other. It might be the first major example from 2019, but if we can guarantee one thing it is that this won’t be the last time fast food sticks its greasy fingers into the business of pop culture. Future films – you have been warned.