M&M’s has seemingly stolen KFC’s famous tagline, though it’s clearly a clever collaboration and not a theft.
On Monday, the Mars brand revealed a new campaign for its M&M’s chocolate bar on Twitter. But whereas M&M’s “Melt in your mouth, not in your hand” the same can’t be said of the chocolate bars. That led M&M’s to use the line “Our new chocolate bar melts in your mouth, AND in your hand” accompanied by the hashtag #fingerlickingood.
Our new chocolate bar melts in your mouth AND your hand. It’s #FingerLickinGood. pic.twitter.com/J47R5YeU1X
— M&M's Canada (@mmscanada) April 8, 2019
When KFC Canada wondered on Twitter what was going on, M&M’s tried to deflect:
It's not what it looks like… pic.twitter.com/FOeoppA0ep
— M&M's Canada (@mmscanada) April 8, 2019
But KFC wasn’t giving up, leading M&M’s to confess—at which point KFC wondered if it needed to involve its lawyers.
Do we need the lawyers for this? It seems like we need the lawyers for this.
— KFC Canada (@kfc_canada) April 8, 2019
There’s also an ad posted to YouTube and a special site FingerLickinGood.ca (with small print giving the trademark acknowledgements to KFC parent Yum). BBDO has been the M&M’s agency for some time, but when The Message tried BBDO Canada president and CEO Dom Caruso for comment, he declined, saying only: “We need our lawyers to get back to you.”
Looking forward to seeing where this goes.