# KFC Extra Crispy Sunscreen

> KFC’s chicken-scented sunscreen giveaway ran out of its initial 3,000 bottles in hours.

- Owner: KFC
- Kind: Campaign
- Sector: Food & beverage
- Seed date: 2016-08-22
- Peak date: 2016-08-23
- Spread Score: 33 (Niche, provisional), v1.2
- Mechanics: Scarcity drop, Transgression, Platform jump, Press loop, Resale market, Sell-out loop

## Summary

KFC launched a chicken-scented sunscreen giveaway with a George Hamilton infomercial. Its initial batch ran out in hours as press and social reactions spread. KFC offered another batch; the ad’s script later appeared as Reddit copypasta.

## Timeline

- 2016-08-22 — KFC (YouTube) — KFC released its sunscreen infomercial and opened the free giveaway to U.S. residents.
- 2016-08-22 — Business Insider (Press) — Business Insider covered the launch and tested a bottle supplied by KFC.
- 2016-08-22 — Eater (Press) — Eater reported that early testers compared the sunscreen’s smell to urine or a baby’s diaper.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/kfc-extra-crispy-sunscreen

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “KFC Extra Crispy Sunscreen.” Case HIS-00247. Spread Score v1.2: 33/100. Updated 2026-10-13. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-00247