It’s not often that a retail ad goes viral, particularly on the scale of KFC’s recent advert for its Streetwise 2 meal. The ad is based on a footballer’s antics on the field. The player’s behaviour has an uncanny resemblance to that displayed by Brazilian footballer Neymar da Silva Santos Junior at this year’s Fifa World Cup in Russia. The ad received a staggering 3.9 billion impressions. Neymar came in for ridicule and was the butt of jokes and memes from around the world as a result of his habit of overreacting to apparent fouls. He would throw himself to the ground and give a prolonged display of writhing in apparent pain. He is not the only one to have behaved in this way; the practice is common among many professional players to win an advantage, such as a free kick, or even the expulsion of an opposition player. KFC’s Suhayl Limbada says the reason for the ad’s success was its ability to bring people together to share a human truth, and to get them talking. In fact, this is t...
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