Racist KFC ad

More Racist Chicken Ads

From Korea - Note: He turns a watermelon into Chicken too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Xdnu90Gc0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pybbBo7Omog

Stefan2010-01-09 10:18:56

Lol @ The worst news article ever written.

Dave Chapelle has done some outstanding comedy work on this as well.

The point is that there is a long history with negative connotations connecting African Americans/Caribbean people with chicken dating back to the days of slavery. Even if this original connection is somewhat dimmed in the modern context, the reality is still that the link between blacks and chicken (especially fried chicken) is perceived as a very negative stereotype in North America. That a global corporation like KFC (even if it was its Australian branch in question) showed such lack of understanding and sensitivity on this issue should really be baffling. Or maybe not...

Oh dear. Do you even understand how the West Indies (and the rest of the Americas) came to be populated by so many peoples of African descent? It's called slavery dude. And believe or not there's a few black people who haven't quite got over it yet. Funny that.

Obviously we all know about the slavery thing. It's just taking PC too far, and what the f**k does slavery have to do with chicken, fried or otherwise. I am 100% unable to find how liking fried chicken is offensive to anyone. Also, it's an Occa at a cricket game, not a Yank at a baseball game. It's just taking PC too far.

Of course it f**king would. The idea of the ad is that its an awkward situation for the aussie bloke sitting in the opposition's crowd, whilst wearing full aussie colours. The fact that they are black is irrelevant, the ad would be the same if they were nz fans.

If anyone can see that as racist they are over-sensitive pricks. I know black americans, and they have said they don't find it offensive at all.

Why should only black people be offended by racism?

Thats not the point, its not racist in the first place. Why are we sitting here trying to pick racism out of an ad that clearly wasn't intended that way nor contains any racism. Before the yanks got involved, noone blinked an eye about this ad, why? The strereotype in question doesn't even exist in australia, so the argument stops there.

All we have is people nit picking over nothing, over an ad that does not offend people.

+1

Only those PC whinging do-gooders made it racist.

In an attempt to keep this brief, here's a brief snippet from Wikipedia (similar situation in the Caribbean islands too):

When it was introduced to the American South, fried chicken became a common staple. Later, as Africans were brought to work on southern plantations, the slaves who became cooks incorporated seasonings and spices that were absent in traditional Scottish cuisine, enriching the flavor. Since most slaves were unable to raise expensive meats, but generally allowed to keep chickens, frying chicken on special occasions spread through the African American communities of the South. It endured the fall of slavery and gradually passed into common use as a general Southern dish. Since fried chicken could keep for several days, longer than other preparations, and traveled well in hot weather before refrigeration was commonplace, it gained further favor in the periods of American history when segregation closed off most restaurants to the black population.

Since the Civil War, traditional slave foods like fried chicken, watermelon, and chitterlings, have suffered a strong association with African American stereotypes and blackface minstrelsy. This was commercialized for the first half of the 20th century by restaurants like Sambo's and Coon Chicken Inn, which selected exaggerated blacks as mascots, implying quality by their association with the stereotype. While acknowledged positively as soul food in the modern age by many, the affinity that African American culture has for fried chicken has been considered a delicate, often pejorative issue; While still present, this perception has been fading for several decades with the ubiquitous nature of fried chicken dishes in the US and a gradual ageing and dull acceptance of this stereotype.el grapadura2010-01-10 18:38:15

A question then - since KFC has been sponsoring the Oz cricket team since at least the mid-1990s, how come they never made an ad like this involving NZ/English/South African fans? Is it just coincidence then that the ad included the West Indian fans?

Perhaps I'm not a cynic, but I dear say yes, it is just a coincidence.

I was waiting for someone to play the PC card.

You're just a pup, you still have plenty of time to develop a healthy amount of cynicism.

That's all well and good but you cleverly avoided my question.

Yer I'm pretty it does offend people.  Hence why it was news, and why we have a thread.

Just out of curiosity, have the West Indies cricket team complained? Have only been half paying attention to the news.

No it is completely different.  The subsidies are trying to improve the percentage of those groups in teaching etc because they are heavily under-represented.

What's racist in the ad is the underlying implication behind the giving of chicken.

And such an implication is missing from the NZ Government programs for Maori and Pacific Islanders you've just mentioned.

That's exactly my point, it could be percieved as how I just mentioned it. It's all down to interperitation. I very much doubt KFC Australia were trying to make an effort to bring up African slavery in the USA. timmymadden2010-01-10 19:51:07

Oh, it implies. It implies.

Why do you think they've pulled it?el grapadura2010-01-10 19:55:51

Timmy, you're actually right on this point.

Defining racism is not about absolutes. There is no clear definition or indicators of racism and as you say there is a lot of subjective interpretation involved. That's the key point, however, what is people's interpretation of the ad? KFC's intention is not important here, because I agree that they almost certainly did not set out to deliberately create a racist ad.

A lot of people have interpreted that ad as racist, however, (over 40% in polls in the US and even 15% in Australia) and that is simply too many people for it to be dismissed as "PC nonsense". If KFC in Australia had known in advance that 15% of their target market might be offended by that ad there is no way they would have run it in the first place.

This situation (and the difficulty that a lot of the posters in this thread seem to have in understanding how, despite their own personal view, that ad should be viewed as racist) is a classic example of what the American professor Barbara Trepagnier calls "silent racism". Silent racism is explained in this excerpt from Wikipedia much better than I ever could:

"Barbara Trepagnier�s research shows that virtually all whites hold some negative stereotypes and assumptions about African Americans and other racial�ethnic minorities, what she calls silent racism. In her book, Silent Racism: How Well-Meaning White People Perpetuate the Racial Divide (2006), Trepagnier demonstrates how the negative stereotypes and assumptions of whites reproduce institutional racism, also known as systemic racism. She argues that the oppositional categories commonly used to think about racism�Racist and Not Racist�hide silent racism and other insidious forms such as color-blind racism. Replacing the outdated categories with a continuum labeled More Racist and Less Racist would expose these subtle forms of racism that are more closely linked to racial injustice than outright bigotry is."

You can read the full Wikipedia article on racism here.
You can also link to Professor Trepagnier's website here.

And for those of you who don't like to read too much Dave Chappelle sums it all up quite well here.

What sucks is that it's usually young people on here who can't see racism in stuff. Bodes ill for the future - history repeats and all that -

Blatent racism - > PCness -> opposition to PCness -> racism again.

We are all racist, and without filters* which recognise that, we head downhill.

* even if artificial and institutionalised.

I like 'racist' jokes, because to me they make fun of racists, but many people are too stupid to see the irony, sadly.

I monitor Australia news for a job, and it is hilarious/sad what some radio hosts said during the whole Hey hey It's Saturday blackface thing - the most common was "how can it be racist, they were Indians!", like there is only black and white, not loads of different ethnicities. That was a digression, but Australians defending themselves against being racist is pretty funny most of the time. They just don't get it. "But why are people getting offended?" um, because they found something offensive, maybe? Who you to say whether something is offensive to someone else!

Was the ad Australian? I don't even know.

Actually, it doesn't.

This was an advertisement in Australia. Before the yanks got involved and introduced a stereotype that previously wasn't heard of, total complaints: 0.

This can only offend people who are overly-sensitive and, sad.

Most probably. They probably used West indian fans because of the culture difference (how they are celebrating), hence emphasising the point of awkwardness.

Its funny that noone else even bothered to comment on the race before now, noone cared if the people in the ad were black, green or white. But because they are black, we have people kicking up a fuss. Ironic.

They used West Indian fans because the West Indies were touring when the ad was played. If you add context, and don't view it through the lens of US stereotyping, then its only racist if you want it to be racist.

I used the example of people I know being afro-american because they would know if they were offended or not. Since I have no idea about stereotypes in the US, its best to refer to them. Racism is not a one-way transaction, FYI.

However, still irrelevant as the ad was in Australia, where the stereotype does not exist.

So if you know some Afro-Americans that weren't offended, that means all Afro-Americans weren't offended?

Does that mean if a white guy isn't offended by something, all white guys aren't offended by it?

Laughable. I didn't say that, I used them as an example as I don't know the american culture very well. However, its irrelevant again as it was showed in AUS.

In perspective..

The WIndies were playing cricket in Australia + Cricket is a VERY big sport in Australia + KFC sell chicken = an advert for KFC where an Australian at a cricket game gives some West Indians some KFC chicken. This has nothing to do with America or slavery, f**k off.

exactly

It has to do with West Indians and slavery. Same sterotype, same type of deal. I'm sure there would be a fair proportion of West Indians who would have found the ad offensive, but I'm not sure if the ad was carried on the TV over there.

The biggest issue as far as I'm concerned is how a global corporation can release an ad that's so poorly researched. It boggles the mind.

Brilliant argument. So what's to stop me from dressing up in some white sheets, and burn a cross on some poor black family's front yard? No history/tradition of KKK here, so such an act would clearly not be racist.

Yeah right.

was gonna raise the same point...

Cosimo2010-01-11 16:28:36

Except doing that would be directly implying some intent on hatered toward black people. I think you nailed it before when you said poor research was involved. Maybe ignorance is a better term than racism.