Product placement on screen has been around since at least the 1920s, and KFC is no stranger to advertising their offerings this way. According to Daytime Confidential, in July 2018, Disney-ABC and KFC entered into a branded content deal — a trade in which KFC would tweet about "General Hospital" and Colonel Sanders himself would appear on the show as portrayed by George Hamilton.
On July 6, 2018, which was National Fried Chicken Day, Colonel Sanders entered the "General Hospital" universe. In that day's episode, Maxie and Lulu are seen hanging out at Maxie's apartment, eating some KFC chicken, when Maxie off-handedly mentions that she's friends with Colonel Harland Sanders. Lulu is shocked to learn that they are friends and that the colonel is a witty texter. He shows up at Maxie's apartment — much to Lulu's astonishment — and shares some chicken-related puns before getting into the real reason he is there (via TV Guide).
It turns out that years ago, Maxie and the Jackal aka Damian Spinelli (Bradford Anderson) were once tasked with helping the colonel stop hackers from an unnamed mob organization known only as "The Syndicate" who were trying to get into KFC's mainframe and steal the secret recipe of KFC's 11 herbs and spices. Oh, and the colonel also reveals he has the power to see into people's souls, due to a warlock's curse upon him.
