The Walking Dead’s KFC Endorsement Is Finger Biting Good

Some shows are known to have a bit of fun with product placement, 30 Rock springs to mind as perhaps the most quintessential example of ironic advertising. But The Walking Dead gave Tina Fey a run for her money this week with a well placed Kentucky Fried Chicken endorsement.

If you recall: Michonne dispatched of a belligerent lone survivor holed up in a cabin (where time had apparently stopped – why exactly did he threaten to call the cops?). Once dead, Rick and crew used the poor old man’s body as chum to distract a passing horde of walkers (something I yelled at them to do with Merle when trapped on the roof in Season 1. Alas.)

The scene closed on a nice shot of a walker family dinner (a circle of undead monsters feasting on the sacrificial man’s intestines) when the screen went to black and the KFC logo appeared along with the following V.O.: "Brought to you by KFC. Come in today and taste why fresh is better."

Awesome.

Nothing says The Colonel's secret recipe like a grip of flesh eating zombies. And like the old KFC catchphrase says, it was finger…grawr… good.

Thank you, The Walking Dead Pictures.

Irony, it seems, is alive and well and AMC. One can only imagine the memes.

In any event, if you’ve forgotten, didn’t catch the priceless moment during the first viewing, or just want to re-familiarize yourself with this bit of comedic timing genius, take a look at the video below.

Whether the placement was intentional or not, I don’t think we’ll be seeing anything like it again anytime soon. KFC spokesman Rick Maynard said in written a statement: "The placement of our brand's mention was unfortunate, and KFC has taken steps to ensure something like that does not happen again."

AMC declined to comment.

Ah, well, this is actually a ton of free advertising for the brand, though one can understand their concern.

We’ll always have the aforementioned memes.

Make sure to take a look at Eric Goldman’s review of “When the Dead Come Knocking” and tune in on Sunday for more digit munching goodness.

Roth Cornet is an Entertainment Editor for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @JRothC and IGN at Roth-IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com