A spoof “clean eating” campaign by KFC has backfired as fans of the fast-food chain apparently mistook the prank as real.

The social media campaign was launched in the UK and Ireland and advertised a new burger apparently made from “chia-seeded cauliflower bun, unsweetened almond yoghurt, ice cube relish, spiralized chicken breast and 100 per cent British kale”.

The new burger was created in collaboration with “Figgy Poppleton-Rice” – an apparent dig at clean-eating, clean living food bloggers.

However, it’s since been revealed that the hideous looking new menu item was merely a prank stunt designed to poke fun at the clean-living lifestyle and actually promote a new burger – the all the more delicious sounding Dirty Lousiana.

The Dirty Lousiana (pictured below) is more along KFC’s mojo and features two layers of cheese, hash brown, chicken breast and three sauces – black pepper mayo, “supercharger” sauce and BBQ sauce).

In a statement to media, KFC said the prank stunt was based on “consumer fatigue” around clean eating. “Let’s get real — no one is craving a quinoa salad, lusting over a kale and celery juice, going weak at the knees for chia seeds or daydreaming about raw veg crudités,” the statement read.

But it appears the stunt did manage to rope a few KFC fans in who were none to happy about a “chia-seeded cauliflower bun”. Many taking to social media to vent their rage: “How could you betray us like this?” wrote one angry customer. Another said: “I’ve honestly never been so ashamed of you”. While another vented: “Healthy eating scheme from KFC? Life’s full of enough disappointments.” While others simply thought it was a bad April Fool’s joke come early.