“You Got Us Shame”: Chicken Licken Pranks Mzansi With April Fools Rubber Band Stunt

• Chicken Licken sent all of South Africa into a full meltdown with one massive packaging announcement on Tuesday
• Thousands of angry Mzansi customers demanded the brand cut salt levels instead of cutting their beloved rubber bands
• The fast-food icon hit back the next morning with one of the sneakiest April Fools ' Day reveals that Mzansi has seen

Chicken Licken had many South Africans in their feelings on Tuesday, 31 March 2026. The fast-food giant dropped a bombshell announcement across all its branches nationwide.

The brand formally confirmed it would be ditching its iconic yellow rubber bands. These are the very bands that have held Mzansi’s Soul Food boxes shut for decades. Customers lost it, and the internet had no chill.

The brand released an official notice stating that rubber bands would be discontinued with immediate effect. Every single branch across South Africa was affected.

Mzansi did not come to play

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"Reduce your salt": Chicken Licken sparks outrage across Mzansi after scrap rubber band decision

The reactions from the public were very personal. Thousands of comments flooded the brand’s X page. Customers were not just upset about the bands, though. Many took the moment to raise a bigger issue that has followed Chicken Licken for years, which is the salt.

For a long time, people have complained online and in person that Chicken Licken’s fried chicken is heavily salted. The brand’s spiced recipe, which traces its roots back to a formula George Sombonos purchased in Waco, Texas, in 1972, has always had a distinct flavour profile. To many loyal customers, that profile tips into territory that is dangerously high in sodium.

The nation got played

Then on Wednesday, 1 April 2026, Chicken Licken posted an update that put the whole country in stitches. The message read that they were holding meals and lives together, and that the rubber band is here to stay. It was a Happy April Fools’ message.

See the X post by Chicken Licken below:

Mzansi reacts to the prank

Briefly News compiled some comments from the post below.

@noxoloh_m commented:

“You got us shame, but I think we were all serious about wanting you to reduce salt. 🥲”

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@Mickzo said:

“You got us 😂, but the fact remains that you must tell Thabo and Nthabiseng to reduce the Salt before putting the chicken in the oven. Are you cooking or attempting an assassination?”

@mejelandis noted:

“Please reduce the level of salt, we won’t live long together with your rubber band.”

@AdamH16204179 wrote:

“I feel so dumb. I can't believe I fell for your elastic prank yesterday. Well done. You got many of us. I'm just glad to know you're not ‘shrinkflationing’ our food or elastics. After all, nothing can ever come in the way of a man and his hot wings in transit. 🔥”

@Cloones2wo said:

“You should have joked with firing your ‘salt bae’ who's salinating our taste buds.”

More articles involving Chicken Licken

• Briefly News previously reported that Chicken Licken announced they will no longer provide rubber bands with meals at any of their branches across the entire country of South Africa.
• A woman in Bloemfontein retired from Chicken Licken after years, and her colleagues celebrated with a heartfelt surprise.
• An American visiting the country tried Chicken Licken in South Africa for the first time and ordered a Soul Sister meal.

Source: Briefly News