As much as we can all agree that fried chicken is one of life's greatest gifts to taste buds, we can also share in the opinion that KFC's marketing campaigns are some of the silliest and most unpredictable. That streak continues with the latest entertainment personality to don Colonel Sanders' glasses, string bow tie and prime directives: RoboCop. No, not whatever other version you're thinking of to try and compensate for reality., but RoboCop. Check out the new commercial below.
I know what you're thinking. "What the hell did I just watch, and why isn't everything else in the world just like it?" I can't address the second part, sadly. But I can tell you that is indeed RoboCop star Peter Weller's voice at the end of the ad, and I can also answer that first question in one way or another.
KFC, with its revolving door of celebrities portraying the iconic pitchman Colonel Sanders, decided to look far beyond just flesh and blood in recasting the role. Finding another Jason Alexander, Reba McEntire or Game of Thrones' Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson just wouldn't be enough. To promote chicken like this, one needs the kind of product-hocking prowess of a morally bound killing machine. Dead or alive, you're gonna eat some chicken when RoboCop is the one making the requests.
Not only is he good for some good old fashioned dinner table laughter, but RoboCop is also dedicated to making sure the streets are safe...from hunger. Check out this other new ad.
That RoboCop sure does have an arm on him, even if his new obsession with KFC makes him completely oblivious to crimes happening in the city. He'd probably be quick to cite the fast food giant for "salt and battering" chicken, amirite?. And he just cited me for shit punnery!
The ads above might make one think that RoboCop slapped on the Colonel's mustache and soul patch out of sheer promotional lunacy. However, there IS a method and meaning to the madness. Albeit a similarly humorous one, but a rose is a rose is a rose. (Unless it's also a robot and/or a cop.)
As explained by Andrea Zahumensky, KFC's U.S. chief marketing officer, RoboCop was commissioned by the restaurant to be an "enhanced security measure" for a special journey. An encrypted copy of the Colonel's globally renowned secret recipe of eleven signature herbs and spices was transported to Stockholm, Sweden to be placed within the Bahnhof maximum security nuclear bunker, considered one of the most secure vaults on the planet. Not even a nuclear fallout will keep future generations from finger-lickin chicken.
Just in case anyone thought the vault trip was just more facetiousness, the video below documents RoboCop's recipe trek around the world.
Considering Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop purposefully clashed all manner of American ideals in the worlds of politics and business (and more), this new Colonel RoboCop weirdly doesn't feel like that much of a thematic stretch. Let's not forget – as many pro wrestling fans have tried – that to promote the second feature in 1990, RoboCop made a surprise appearance alongside Sting at the WCW pay-per-view event Capital Combat. If only he would have been this funny back then.
With any luck, KFC will be running these and more Colonel RoboCop commercials for as long as possible through the TV midseason. Maybe a flashback to a time when an ED-2019 was the Colonel. While waiting to see more and while waiting to hear more about the new movie, which Peter Weller reportedly won't be a part of, let us know what you guys think about the new ads below.
