KFC’s Bowl Cut Campaign: A Trim Too Far or a Marketing Masterstroke?
In the ever-competitive world of fast food marketing, it takes more than a snappy slogan or a slick ad to cut through the noise. Enter: KFC’s 2019 “Famous Bowl Cuts” campaign—an eyebrow-raising fusion of 90s nostalgia and modern stunt marketing. Because what better way to celebrate a pound of mash, chicken, corn, and cheese than by offering New Yorkers a free bowl haircut?
The Method Behind the Madness
On paper, the idea sounds like something pulled from a discarded pitch deck. But KFC went all in. They set up shop in Brooklyn, invited a real salon to craft five modern bowl cut styles (yes, seriously), and gave away gift cards to anyone bold enough to let their locks be sheared into mushroom-shaped history. Oh, and of course—there was a hashtag. #KFCFamousBowlCuts.
All of this to promote their $3 Famous Bowls and the new spicy variant. Equal parts absurd and calculated, this campaign wasn’t just a PR stunt—it was a brand exercise in nostalgic absurdity. And it worked. The coverage was wide, the Twitter responses were deliciously chaotic, and for a brief, glorious moment, the internet couldn’t stop talking about gravy and haircuts.
Copy That Cuts (and Charms)
From a copywriting perspective, this is fast food theatre at its best. The tone was light, self-aware, and just the right amount of ridiculous. Lines like “I can’t believe we are actually selling a pound of delicious food for just $3, and I also can’t believe bowl cuts are making a comeback, but here we are,” from KFC’s CMO, Andrea Zahumensky, walk the perfect line between ironic and sincere. That’s not easy to pull off—especially when the core concept involves voluntarily looking like a 1994 school photo.
It’s a prime example of how Copywriting Services can elevate the ridiculous into the remarkable. Done poorly, it would’ve been cringe. Done well (as it was), it sparked thousands of earned media mentions, user-generated content, and brand engagement at a fraction of the cost of a prime-time ad slot.
Our Take as a Digital Marketing Firm
At Clever Clicks, we see this as a reminder that brand identity is your most powerful asset. KFC didn’t need to talk about their chickens’ provenance or gravy secrets. They leaned into their own cultural cachet and trusted that absurdity, backed by bold execution, would do the heavy lifting. It did.
Would we recommend offering free haircuts for your next SaaS product launch? Not exactly. But we do recommend taking a cue from the strategy. Bold ideas, executed with tight copy and contextual timing, are still king in the digital age.
Key Lessons from the Bowl Cut Blitz
- Own Your Brand Voice: KFC didn’t chase trends—they reworked their own nostalgia into something shareable.
- Marry Content with Context: January. Cold weather. Comfort food. The time was right for something hearty (and a little hair-raising).
- Engage with Real-World Activations: Physical presence + digital amplification = maximum reach. Classic omnichannel play.
- Use Humour Intelligently: The campaign was silly, yes, but never tone-deaf. It embraced its absurdity with charm.
Ultimately, it’s a campaign that reminds us marketing doesn’t need to be safe to be effective. Sometimes, it just needs to be clever. And a little off the top.
Other ingenious marketing campaigns include the launch of KFC Crisps which has now made this snack product a true icon.