It’s a parent’s nightmare. A mom picks up the phone and it’s her son, calling from the police station. He’s been arrested.
The helpless young man relates what happened as we see a flashback showing him behind the wheel of his car, distracted by the sight of an attractive girl. We hear a crash as the car runs into a pair of police motorcycles while the nearby cops look on. The kid was going to get some take-out chicken. Instead, he’s on his way to jail.
Calm and unperturbed, the mom assures her son that she’ll take care of everything. Immediately she grabs the car keys and heads out of the house—presumably to bail out her boy. "Rescue Me" plays in the background.
Next we see her driving the family van, looking lovingly over to the passenger seat. Presumably her son is in the vehicle and all is well. But after a fleeting moment the camera reveals the true occupant of that seat: a bucket of KFC chicken that’s safely belted in. All the while the police and the boy are waiting for a parent who’s not going to show up.
Cut to Mom and the rest of the family enjoying dinner. Across the bottom of the screen appears the slogan, "Give in to the chicken," accompanied by the KFC logo featuring Colonel Sanders. The spot ends with the slim, nervous youngster in a prison cell, seated between two oversized hardened convicts—so much for parental priorities.
"Phone Call" is one of three spots in a campaign for British television, out of Ogilvy & Mather, London. The agency selected director Scott Bergstein of Area 51 Films, Santa Monica, for his American sensibilities and humor. Bergstein and an American cast went to Cape Town, South Africa, for the shoot.
The Ogilvy team on "Phone Call" consisted of creative director/art director Paul Belford, creative director Nigel Roberts, copywriter Dave Williams and producer Mark Rossiter.
Mark Thomas executive produced for Area 51. Producers were Lee Trask and Jeremy Bannister. The DP was Paul Goldsmith.
The spots were edited by Bill Smedley, who at the time was with OBE Editing, London. (He has since joined The Quarry, London.) Jean-Marc Demmer and Tareq Al-Kubaisi of VTR, London, served as online editor and colorist, respectively. Owen Griffiths of Jungle, London, was audio mixer/engineer.
