KFC hatches plan to ruffle feathers with Huawei smartphone celebrating 30 years in China

The result of the collaboration is a co-branded, and visceral smartphone featuring the treasured brand icon and mascot, Colonel Sanders. It is unlikely to appeal to but the biggest fans of his ‘Finger Lickin’’ good chicken.

AdAge reports that the device has been created to celebrate the brand's 30-year anniversary in China, with it emblazoned with the year1987. The fast food company outperforms even McDonald’s in China, having been one of the earliest fast food brands to make headway in the state.

As it is a limited-edition device, there may be a paltry volume of them produced, rather than the battery-hen production lines many smartphones are subjected too. Time will tell where and for how much the mobile will cost, when the chickens come home to roost, The Drum will be there to provide an update.

It is not unusual for the brand to run exuberant and slightly bizarre campaigns, however. Recently in no particular order, there have been space ventures, robots, Game of Thrones videos, erotic literature, original music, greaseproof keyboards, scented candles and sunsceen, too many to list.

It is theorised that KFC’s existing shop on Alibaba’s TMall could prove to be the perfect distribution point for the limited edition gadget, which will come prepackaged with KFC’s Chinese app and a music-focused service from the brand which will let them control what songs they hear in participating outlets (a service McDonald’s and are experimenting with in Sweden).

KFC did of course suffer reputational damage in the East when it ran afowl of social media claims stating that it was dishing up meat from grossly mutated poultry.

Below is a YouTube video promoting the limited edition mobile.