Chicken-Licken sanction statement soon to appear on television

The breach is as a result of using KFC's distinctive character, Colonel Sanders, without permission and for copying part of KFC's payoff line "Finger Lickin Good" .The Committee ruled that the statement must appear four times on four different channels, on four consecutive days, i.e. one flighting per channel. The statement will therefore be flighted on all three SABC channels and on e-tv in the evening, from the 11- 14 April 2004.

The chairman of the Appeal Committee, Mr Mervyn King, in the ruling, said that the Colonel Sanders character and the payoff line "It's finger Lickin Good" are distinctive features of KFC, both domestically and internationally which have been associated with KFC exclusively for over 30 years. According to King the use of KFC's icon and it's payoff line is "clearly an imitation of an original intellectual thought which is crafted and distinctive, this imitation is likely to lead to a loss of potential advertising value". In order for the imitation Clause of the Code to be infringed, consideration is given to factors such as - the extent of exposure, period of usage and advertising spend, whether the concept is central to the theme, distinctive or crafted as opposed to common in use. In this case, KFC successfully proved that it stood the test in all the above.

The frequency of this publicity was a bone of contention among the parties. In dealing with it, the Committee emphasised that the intention of this sanction is to correct, to deter as well as to punish. A balance between the three elements therefore needs to be maintained at all times. The Committee was of the view that whilst the breach was a flagrant one and it appeared to be a case of hit and run advertising, the proposed frequency of the sanction was unnecessarily punitive. Four flightings of the adverse publicity statement was therefore ordered.

Chicken-Licken will carry the production and media placement costs of this adverse publicity statement.