Popeyes uses Taylor Swift easter egg to throw shade at Chick-fil-A with free chicken offer

Popeyes new promotion for a free chicken sandwich has an oddly familiar layout that Taylor Swift fans might recognize, and they seem to be throwing shade at another major chicken chain with a hidden message.

Popeyes always has their finger on the pulse of the music world, and they even had a Beyonce themed promotion this year, but now, they’re using Swift’s musical conundrums to shade Chick-fil-A.

The 14-time GRAMMY winner dropped her new album The Tortured Poets Department on April 19, 2024. The album cover features a moody black-and-white image of the pop superstar with a minimal typeface of the album’s title:

Taylor is known for using easter eggs to promote her albums months before they are released or even announced in a bid to keep her fans guessing. Swifties are always trying to guess what the singer will do next, and she has managed to turn her fans into internet sleuths who analyze everything she does.

Popeyes new promo is giving fans free chicken sandwiches

In honor of National Customer Appreciation Day on May 17, 2024, Popeyes released a new promo for their Golden BBQ Sandwich, which the chicken chain will be offering for free (in the form of 600 bonus points) with any purchase of $10 or more.

It’s not the freebie from “The Hungry Loyalty Department” that has made people notice the reference to one of it’s competitors, though. The company added a not-so cryptic tagline with the promo:

“pOPEyes says thaNks! rewardS members: yoU caN enjoy a golDen bbq sAndwich on us when You Spend $10.”

The capitalized letters say “open on Sundays”, and which chicken chain is infamously closed on Sundays? That’s right, Chick-fil-A.

Popeyes isn’t the only restaurant to throw shade at Chick-fil-A’s Sunday closures, and Shake Shack did something similar when promoting a new chicken sandwich back in April.

Chick-fil-A is a family-run business, and states that they close on Sundays to allow their staff to have a day off to spend with their loved ones, but it has caused some upset with fans craving chicken after a wild Saturday night.

All Swiftie references aside though, Popeyes Golden BBQ Chicken Sandwich is brand new to menus and features a fried chicken breast smothered in BBQ sauce, served in a brioche bun with barrel-cured pickles.

The promo for Customer Appreciation Day is around for one day only on Friday May 17, but the Golden BBQ Chicken Sandwich is set to hang around for longer. Whether it will become a permanent menu feature, only time will tell.