All willpower crumbles under the seductive powers of the Colonel in director Sam Coleman’s irresistible new “Can’t Resist” campaign for KFC and Ogilvy Johannesburg. Produced by South Africa's Patriot Films, the tantalizingly dark and moody spots portray the very moment when we give into our deepest desires, in this case KFC.
The campaign tells the stories of frustration, desire, resistance and finally letting go. Using a long take approach largely free of technique and editing, Coleman explores the journey from the first moment of seduction all the way to surrender. With no dialogue, the spots are about the character’s inner struggle and in the red glow of the ever-present Colonel, the witchy atmosphere is underscored by a rendition of Nina Simone’s “I Put a Spell on You.”
In this spot titled “Boot” (meaning the trunk of a vehicle), we see a woman place a bucket of KFC chicken in the boot of her car/SUV during what looks like a rainy night. She closes the trunk and we see the KFC bucket standing in solitude. Soon she returns, opens the trunk, grabs the bucket, pulls off the lid and devours a drumstick in the pouring rain.
For “Boot” and the other commercials in the package, Coleman elicits evocative performances in ostensibly small uninterrupted moments, while crafting a strong visual world. Elegantly drawing the audience in through his choice of angles, he captures the instant the characters become powerless to the finger lickin’ indulgence.
Coleman said, “The challenge was to show the exact moment when resistance caves in and the characters succumb to KFC. In a sense, that then made the moments before and after equally important. Allowing the actor to be caught in that moment before they give in, and letting that build up, seemed to be where the good stuff would be. I opted to let the tension build as much as possible and let each character interpret their own ‘breakdown’ without cutting.”
