KitKat, the chocolate-covered wafer bar, raises anew a philosophical communications question for the ages: When, if ever, is it okay to use humor in a crisis? The inciting incident is the theft of 12 tons of the chocolate bars in Europe. Also noteworthy: A bunch of other brands jumped on the humor bandwagon.

Humor is typically a tough row in a crisis because it’s too easy to upset people with it, people who are already upset at the crisis itself. The exception would be when the crisis isn’t all that serious or at least has humorous aspects, as is the case here. The name KitKat is even funny.

On March 29, KitKat, owned by Nestlé, posted an official statement on X disclosing that it had been the victim of theft. A truck with more than 400,000 of the chocolate bars, reportedly all Formula 1–themed items, was stolen.

“We can confirm that 12T of KitKat products were stolen while in transit between our factory in Central Italy and their destination in Poland,” the brand wrote. “We are working closely with local authorities and supply-chain partners to investigate.”

KitKat Tracker

Many people took this for an early April Fool’s joke. On actual April Fool’s Day, the brand posted again, saying this wasn’t the case. It even launched a “Stolen KitKat Tracker” (“we really want to know where they’ve gone”). The tracker allows customers to enter the eight-digit batch code from the packaging to see if their candy bar was stolen. The innovation got coverage in publications ranging from the New York Post to Business Insurance.

Then there’s the humor. Some stories quoted a KitKat spokesperson lauding “the criminals’ exceptional taste” and stating(as per the NY Post), “We’ve always encouraged people to have a break with KitKat, but it seems thieves have taken the message too literally and made a break with more than 12 tons of our chocolate.”

The Wall Street Journal’s coverage (“How a Massive KitKat Heist Turned Into Crisis PR Gold”) used the event to explore the question of humor in a crisis. It even mentioned our favorite example of such humor use, KFC’s 2018 U.K. supply-chain crisis in which it ran out of chicken. “A chicken restaurant without any chicken,” KFC wrote at the time. “It’s not ideal.”

‘Thoughts, Condolences’

The WSJ focuses on several other companies that responded to the KitKat theft with humor, including Ryanair and the Charlotte F.C. Major League Soccer team in North Carolina. Domino’s Pizza in the U.K. had the funniest take: “We would like to share our thoughts and condolences with Kit Kat following their sad news. On a completely unrelated note, we’re pleased to announce we’ll now be selling a new Kit Kat pizza.”

The WSJ pointed to the trend of trying to turn events into memes. It referenced the recent video Wendy’s put out making fun of one McDonald’s had done of its CEO daintily biting into a burger.

For crisis communicators, it’s good to be aware of situations in which humor will work and also that it’s becoming increasingly normal for companies to comment playfully on other organizations’ misfortunes — as long as those misfortunes aren’t too serious.

Photo Credit: Nestlé

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