Chicken Tonight is a brand of sauce intended to be added to chicken pieces in a
skillet, available in flavors such as Honey & Mustard, Country French and Thai Green Curry.
History
Initially launched on October 23, 1990 under Unilever's
Ragú
Ragú () is an American brand of Italian-style sauces and condiments owned, in North America, by Mizkan, and in the United Kingdom and Ireland, by Symington's, a private-label food manufacturer.
The sister product to Ragú, known as Ragulett ...
brand in the United States and Canada, it was launched in the United Kingdom under the
Knorr brand in 1993, while the same year, Chicken Tonight made its way to Oceania under the
Raguletto brand. As of 2015, Chicken Tonight is a standalone brand.
The associated advertising slogan is "I feel like Chicken Tonight". In one series of television ads, these words were sung by actors as they 'flapped' their arms in a movement similar to the dance "
The Chicken". An advertisement for Chicken Tonight was the first in the United Kingdom to use a
red button interactive service to promote the product.
The American version of the product was met with limited success; however, as of 2021, it is still sold in Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
Association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
player
Ian Wright
Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English television and radio personality and former professional footballer. He works as a pundit for BBC Sport and ITV Sport.
Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal ...
appeared in commercials for the product. In 2011, Unilever sold the Ragu business and the Chicken Tonight brand (in a deal worth £30m) in the United Kingdom to Symington's, a food manufacturer in Leeds, who would drop the Knorr Branding. Symington's later acquired the Oceania rights to Raguletto and Chicken Tonight; they have since been acquired by
Simplot. In 2019, Unilever also sold Chicken Tonight brand in the Netherlands to Zwanenberg Food Group.
In popular culture
The slogan was
parodied in a skit on the Australian television series ''
The Late Show'' in 1993 with "Dickhead Tonight", where people danced while singing "I Feel Like a Dickhead Tonight".
The dance and song of the advertisement were parodied by ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'' family in the episode "
Lady Bouvier's Lover".
A segment on an ''
America's Funniest Home Videos
''America's Funniest Home Videos'', also called ''America's Funniest Videos'' (abbreviated as ''AFV''), is an American video clip television series on ABC, based on the Japanese variety show ''Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan''. The show featur ...
'' episode parodied the brand as "Iguana Tonight."
Atlanta, GA rock band Donnell Hubbard recorded the song "(I Feel Like) Chicken Tonight" based on the commercial jingle.
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.chickentonight.co.uk/
Products introduced in 1990
Sauces
Former Unilever brands
British brands