Texting is so much a part of modern life that some people can't even pause for a meal of fried chicken without sending a message. As part of an advertising campaign and in an effort to avoid an epidemic of greasy smartphone screens, KFC restaurants in Germany have been giving away paper tray liners with built-in Bluetooth keyboards, so patrons can text away while munching on their extra crispy.
Conceived by German advertising agencies Gute Werbung and Serviceplan, the KFC Tray is a tray liner made out of durable paper with a 0.4 mm-thick keyboard, a built-in rechargeable battery and a Bluetooth circuit. To use, the patrons simply activated the tray, used a password to link it to their smartphone, and texted away.
Distributed for a week at newly-opened KFC branches in Germany, Gute Werbung says that geolocated social media discussions "skyrocketed" and that every one of the smart paper trays were taken home. Presumably, the greasy fingerprints on the keys weren't a downside.