KFC have held their hands up over a chicken shortage which resulted in the closure of dozens of stores.

The fast food giant cheekily re-arranged their letters to hint at a swear word before apologising to its customers.

In an image distributed on social media, the letters "FCK" were superimposed onto a KFC bucket.

A message below read: "We're sorry.

"A chicken restaurant without any chicken. It's not ideal.

"Huge apologies to our customers, especially those who travelled out of their way to find we were closed.

Read more: Glasgow KFC one of hundreds to be closed due to chicken shortage

"And endless thanks to our KFC team members and our franchise partners for working tirelessly to improve the situation.

"It's been a hell of a week, but we're making progress, and more and more fresh chicken is being delivered to our restaurants."

The image has already been met with high praise.

Even This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield took to social media to describe it as a "genius apology".

Read more: Several KFC restaurants across Glasgow reopen following chicken shortage

We reported last week how city restuarants were forced to close following the chicken shortage which was the result of "teething problems" with a new distributor.Â