KFC Thailand draws backlash over fried chicken incense sticks for Lunar New Year

KFC Thailand recently stirred controversy after posting on social media about its fried chicken incense sticks for Lunar New Year.

Last week, KFC Thailand reportedly shared a video about the product on Instagram. The incense sticks, which come in a box of 11, have been designed to look and smell like fried chicken thanks to a combination of scents from 11 herbs and spices, Marketing Oops reported.

Following several outraged Instagram users’ reactions to the product, KFC Thailand reportedly took down the video from the social media platform on Saturday morning. However, the video is still up on Facebook.

In addition to the video, social media users on other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook criticized KFC Thailand’s promotional photos of the incense sticks.

Several of them pointed out that the product is inappropriate given the millennia-old tradition of burning incense sticks in Asia. The practice is meant to commemorate various events, such as special occasions and funerals. People also burn incense sticks during their daily prayers and while they pay their respects to their ancestors.

“This is an ad by KFC Thailand for Chinese New Year. So many things wrong with this. You’d that they would know Chinese culture better,” one Twitter user said.

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“KFC incense sticks. That’s one way to get your ancestors’ attention over the Lunar New Year. … Proudly brought to you by late stage capitalism,” another Twitter user declared.

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