PRS303 Assignment: KFC Chicken Shortage PR Management Analysis

This report examines the public relations crisis faced by KFC in the UK due to a chicken shortage in February. The analysis identifies the problem, which involved restaurant closures and customer dissatisfaction caused by supply chain issues. The report details the steps taken by KFC, including a full-page advertisement using the acronym "FCK," and assesses the public's response to these actions. It highlights the importance of transparency, honesty, and humor in managing a crisis. The conclusion offers recommendations for companies facing similar situations, such as establishing a crisis management team, addressing affected parties, and demonstrating empathy. Ultimately, the report emphasizes how KFC's public relations strategies, particularly the advertisement, helped manage the crisis and maintain brand image, despite the negative impact on the company’s growth prospects. The report draws on PR theory and practical considerations to provide insights into effective crisis management.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Executive Summary
The report has helped in identifying the public relations issue which was
faced by KFC due to the shortage of chicken that led to closure of the shops
in many parts of United Kingdom market. Due to the same, KFC faced high
level of ineffectiveness from the different individuals which impacted the
growth of the company. However, the company KFC tried to improve their
position with the strong advertisement with an empty bucket written FCK in
it that had been able to attract the customer’s focus on the same. There are
few recommendations provided for the other companies which can be
utilized by them at the time of crisis.

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Table of Contents
Introduction.....................................................................................................3
Analysis and Description of Problem...............................................................3
Analysis of Steps Taken by Company..............................................................4
Response to the Steps.....................................................................................6
Conclusion and Recommendations..................................................................7
References.....................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The report throws light in analyzing the public relation issue which was
faced by KFC in the month of February. The public relations by the
organization is generally to persuade investors, public, employees along with
partners for maintaining the certain point of view about the company, the
leadership qualities, products or the political decisions which are made by
the company. In the assignment, the main purpose is to identify the Public
Relation Issue faced by KFC during February wherein there was calamity of
the fried chicken chain (Theguardian.com, 2019). The KFC restaurants were
in trouble as they were not able to handle the issues and due to the same,
there were shut down of the KFC restaurants as well. In the assignment, the
main focus has been provided on understanding the problem, the different
steps which are taken by the company for solving the problem and the
response to the respective steps for solving the issue effectively.
Analysis and Description of Problem
The chicken franchise company KFC had one of the worst nightmares
in the entire history wherein the different restaurants of KFC were forced to
shut down in England in February due to the issues related to suppliers. The
organization switched the suppliers due to that there were issues related to
logistics and the suppliers were unable to supply chicken (Theguardian.com,
2019). In such circumstances, it angered the different customers who were

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driving to the different local restaurants and it was found that the shops
were shut down as there were no chicken to be sold. Due to the respective
issue, there were customers who called police which impacted the image of
KFC in the market wherein it has been capable of making a huge brand
image that made the brand strong. KFC encountered a serious and
disastrous dilemma wherein the shortage of chicken forced the restaurant
chain to close more than 600 stores in the entire United Kingdom and
logistical issues caused by change in suppliers created all the trouble which
was mainly caused due to disruption. While the different customers were
angry, there were many shops which reopened the stores, however, they
were serving the customers with limited menu (Sweetser et al., 2016).
Analysis of Steps Taken by Company
From the analysis of the entire issue of KFC, it can be seen that it is the
unprecedented complications, wherein a public relations team is required to
be set up, addressing the issues, apologize as well as mending the fracturing
relationships with the customers that affected the brand image and name of
the company in the market of England (Stacks, 2016). In such scenario, KFC
was deeply embarrassed for such mishap which happened and the officials of
the company worked like mad for fixing the issue. The public relations team
had stroke of genius in the form of the full page advertisement.
The advertisement tried to feature the empty bucket of chicken with
the letters of the name of the company in a jumbled form, which spelt FCK.

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The respective image is considered to be the apologetic paragraph to the
different customers beginning with: A chicken restaurant without
chicken, It’s not ideal.
Figure 1: Apologetic Approach of KFC
(Source: Somerville & Aroussi, 2016)
From the apologetic approach of KFC, there are different aspects which
can be identified such as the company KFC, the fast food chain rehired
Bidvest, which promises seamless kind of return of the fresh chicken
deliveries to the company. KFC officials accepted the blame and they
apologized for the same by gathering the different facts (Smith, 2017). KFC
addressed the issue transparently and honestly, which helped them in letting
the public know regarding the mistake which were performed by them and
explained the entire procedure which will be used by them in rectifying the

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issue effectively. Keeping a close eye on situation after the crisis is the other
aspect that can be incorporated by the company that helped KFC in
maintaining their positive approach and it helped them in solving the issue
more effectively, may be not 100%, however, KFC tried in managing it a lot
in a successful manner (Russell & Lamme, 2016).
Response to the Steps
While KFC implemented the steps of transparency and honesty after
accepting their mistake and blaming themselves for the issues related to
suppliers. After the PR stunt which was done by KFC, the company is
benefitting from the boom of PR. The entire situation has certainly got people
talking regarding the same, and it has been capable of building the brand
personality to a high extent (PRDaily.com, 2019). The response of the
company was being applauded for the simplicity and there were many
comments which were being received through social media such as Twitter
or Facebook that were emotionally driven.
Currently, the KFC is benefitting from the public relation and it
impacted the growth prospects of the company suitably. The full page
advertisement helped in illustrating that how a proper apology as well as
appropriate usage of humor can be helpful for the company in managing
their position and increased the brand growth and sales of the company
successfully (Kim, 2016). There were large number of memes and other
content shared in the social media which was considered to be negative as

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well as positive aspect for the company in an efficient manner. KFC Company
has been capable of handling the different emotions of the different
individual customers positively which assisted them in managing the
situation successfully and in a more effective manner to come back with a
positive image (Gregory, 2016).
Conclusion and Recommendations
Therefore, it can be inferred that KFC had face several issues regarding
the supplier problems and due to which it impacted the brand image of the
company negatively. There was shut down of many stores in different parts
in England and thanks to the suppliers of the company. However, KFC were
successful in improving the efficiency of the services which were affecting
the brand image of the company. KFC tried to create an advertisement with
full one page coverage that termed FCK wherein the message provided to
the different customers regarding the chicken shortage. As the individual
customers were unhappy with the incident which took place at KFC and it
impacted the growth prospects of the company negatively. In such scenario,
the company took up the public relation management strategies seriously
which helped them in managing the scenario positively. There are different
recommendations which can be provided from the story of KFC are as
follows:
Firstly, appointing a team along with devising the strategy is the key
element which needs to be implemented by the companies at the time of

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crisis. Making sure to appoint a response time is the main aspect wherein
every member of the team can be assigned with the proper responsibilities
for understanding whether to be reactive or proactive in the media coverage
(Ferguson, 2018). It will be making them prepared for teaching the proper
type of protocol within company which could be approached for speaking to
the media. In case of KFC, they were capable of reacting quickly to the entire
scenario which helped them in overcoming the scenario and generate high
level of efficiency within a short span of time.
Secondly, identifying and addressing the parties who are affected
wherein it can be seen that addressing anyone who are involved in the crisis
which includes customers, employees and the suppliers are critical part. In
case of KFC, they analyzed the entire situation and tried to understand that it
was not the duty of the company to create remedies for the situation and
due to which it impacted them positively in the future (Austin & Pinkleton,
2015). From the case of KFC, it can be learnt that showing goodwill to the
affected and explaining the different techniques to manage the situation is
the vital aspect which needs to be incorporated as it will be make them feel
effective and their brand image will be improved.
Being a human is the other element which needs to be incorporated by
the companies in the situation of crisis as it will be helping them in dealing
with the situation accurately. While the logical type of explanation is
necessary in many situations, the addressing of the emotions of the people

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are the key elements which needs to be introduced as it will be making the
people grow stronger and they will be gaining confidence on the company for
the products and services which are being delivered by them to the
customers (Austin & Pinkleton, 2015).
These are the different steps which can be incorporated by the
companies during the time of crisis as it will be enhancing the effectiveness
and manage the growth prospects of the company effectively. In case of
KFC, the officials of the company have been successful in performing a
commendable job in managing the issue related to the shortage of the
chicken and closure of the stores in various parts of the country England.
However, with the effective advertisement and managing the confidence of
the customers by accepting their blame is the most efficient element which
helped them in managing the issue and solving them successfully as well.

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References
Austin, E. W., & Pinkleton, B. E. (2015). Strategic public relations
management: Planning and managing effective communication
campaigns. Routledge.
Ferguson, M. A. (2018). Building theory in public relations:
Interorganizational relationships as a public relations paradigm. Journal
of Public Relations Research, 30(4), 164-178.
Gregory, A. (2015). Planning and managing public relations campaigns: A
strategic approach. Kogan Page Publishers.
Kim, C. M. (2016). Social media campaigns: Strategies for public relations
and marketing. Routledge.
PRDaily.com (2019) KFC and DHL respond to the #KFCCrisis (online)
Retrieved from https://www.prdaily.com/kfc-and-dhl-respond-to-the-
kfccrisis/ [Accessed on 22nd December 2019]
Russell, K. M., & Lamme, M. O. (2016). Theorizing public relations history:
The roles of strategic intent and human agency. Public Relations
Review, 42(5), 741-747.
Smith, R. D. (2017). Strategic planning for public relations. Routledge.
Somerville, I., & Aroussi, S. (2016). Public relations, politics and the media.
In The public relations handbook (pp. 50-75). Routledge.

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Stacks, D. W. (2016). Primer of public relations research. Guilford
Publications.
Sweetser, K. D., Ahn, S. J., Golan, G. J., & Hochman, A. (2016). Native
advertising as a new public relations tactic. American behavioral
scientist, 60(12), 1442-1457.
Theguardian.com (2019) Most KFCs in UK remain closed due to the chicken
shortage (online) Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/feb/19/kfc-uk-closed-
chicken-shortage-fash-food-contract-delivery-dhl [Accessed on 22nd
December 2019]
Theguardian.com (2019) KFC returns to original supplier after chicken
shortage fiasco (online) Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/mar/08/kfc-returns-to-
original-supplier-after-chicken-shortage-fiasco [Accessed on 22nd
December 2019]