KFC Pulls "Racist" Australian TV spot

@Eorl,

Quote:

It's people in the US who have wrongly chosen to include the West Indies cricket fans in their own southern USA culture based purely on their skin colour.

Based purely on their skin colour.

This is an important point. The distant ancestors of African Americans and West Indians may have come from west Africa, but there, all similarity ends. There are literally centuries of a continuously diverging cultural divide between African Americans and West Indians.

Ask an African American to explain cricket to you, or ask a West Indian to explain a wishbone offense in American football.

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@Eorl,

Hmm... I don't think that's the only reading of things.

I don't think it's necessary to think the Australians were being racist when they made the ad for KFC to make the decision to pull it. I think there can be a complete understanding of how it was not racist in its own context, while still recognizing that it'd be Kryptonite for KFC in America, sans context.

As in, everyone can agree that it is NOT problematic WITH context in Australia (or elsewhere in the world, I keep saying "Australia" because it is an Australian ad, no?) but also agree that it IS problematic WITHOUT context in America. And that it was just too damaging to KFC in its context-free version, viewed in America, for them not to pull it.

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E Brown

Quote:

Do you really feel that racial or cultural sensitivity is depriving you of something?

yes. The right to see something that isnt racially charged in my culture.

Robert Gentel

Quote:

The part I really don't get is the notion that KFC pulling the ad represents US cultural influence over Australia that the existence of the KFC ad in Australia itself doesn't already represent.

Like i've said before we only want the good bits (of your culture).

Gobert Gentel

Quote:

That was the initial point I was making when I said that if cultural influence is the concern Australians should be pissed about having KFC there in the first place

To an extent we are but there isnt a lot we can do about it. You will find many Australians are pissed about Maccas, and other American influences as well.
At the risk of bringing another red herring into the argument, I have often felt that the Middle east conflict is really about middle eastern cultures railing against the all pervasive American culture taking over there own.
Lets not discuus that though it too charged a topic

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@sozobe,

So you don't think it's racist for Americans (of any colour) to see West Indian cricket fans as "blacks"? You think it's OK for them to be told, essentially, that it's OK for them to think that, and that the mistake was ours? Rather than point out the error. In other words, pulling the ad implies some level of guilt where none exists. (Even though, like I said, I get the economics)

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@sozobe,

sozobe wrote:

As in, everyone can agree that it is NOT problematic WITH context in Australia (or elsewhere in the world, I keep saying "Australia" because it is an Australian ad, no?)

Why didnt the originator of the controvesy see that?

What we are trying to say is that the originator of the controvesy SHOULD have said "Hey thats offensive... oh wait aussie advert it wouldnt be offensive in aust."

Therfore no controvesy.

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@sozobe,

sozobe wrote:

but also agree that it IS problematic WITHOUT context in America.

It shouldn't be. One should attempt to see something in context prior to jumping to outrageous conclusions, yeah? That's where the problem is, in the lack of an attempt from the USA public at large to conceive of another context! I think that's partly what's meant by objection to the cultural export, it's the lack of appreciation for a conflicting cultural view.

To be fair, I don't think it's easy to even see this from within a US cultural context.

If I was an American here though, I'd be thinking "Wow, the Australians here seem really consistently annoyed about this. Maybe there is something here I'm not understanding." I guess that's exactly what you're doing, soz.

Perhaps it's similar to the way in which bullies are often completely unaware that they are being bullies, they are just used to getting their way, and are blissfully unaware of the power they wield over others, and are shocked to find themselves resented for it. (Note: I'm not saying this a case of bullying, I'm just talking about the lack of self-awareness)

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@Eorl,

Eorl wrote:

That's where the problem is, in the lack of an attempt from the USA public at large to conceive of another context!

We come back here to the problem i pointed out at the beginning of the thread. This is a bigger deal in Oz than it is in the United States. From all that i can see, the "USA public at large" is blissfully unaware of this tempestuous antipodean teapot. It is only a handful of political rectitude crackpots in American who have gotten worked up over this. It is possible to go to a similar extreme, and to think that something that has the Australians worked up is significant here, when i doubt if most Americans are even aware of this brouhaha.

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@Setanta,

Then why pull the ad? I know why, but you see what I mean.

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@Eorl,

Yes, i see what you mean--and it has been hammered on here again and again that corporate entities are "hyper-sensitive" to negative publicity. The population of the United States is in excess of 300,000,000. You'd need 70- or 80,000,000 hits on this youtube video to have statistically significant evidence of American interest. I really doubt that it has gotten that kind of attention. Someone has, i believe, already mentioned the squeaky wheel principle. It only takes a handful of loudmouth crackpots yelling their heads off to convince Pepsi (or whoever now owns Kentucky Fried Chicken) to pull the ad. That does not constitute evidence that the "USA population at large" is worried about this.

The topic is of interest in its own right, but i see no reason to assume that this is something for which the American public need be slammed as criminally ignorant of other cultures when the likelihood is that they are not even aware of the incident. Keep in mind that our nation spans a continent of considerable size, and entails a population large enough to have a great deal of activity and diversity without looking beyond our borders. For as much as it may offend the vanity of Australians, what happens in Australia is far less important to Americans that is what happens in American to Australians.

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@dadpad,

That's not realistic though. It's the age of Youtube. They can't expect it to remain corralled in one country.

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@sozobe,

dadpad wrote:

sozobe wrote:

As in, everyone can agree that it is NOT problematic WITH context in Australia (or elsewhere in the world, I keep saying "Australia" because it is an Australian ad, no?)

Why didnt the originator of the controvesy see that?

What we are trying to say is that the originator of the controvesy SHOULD have said "Hey thats offensive... oh wait aussie advert it wouldnt be offensive in aust."

Therfore no controvesy.

sozobe wrote:

That's not realistic though. It's the age of Youtube. They can't expect it to remain corralled in one country.

To me you have avoided the queston. I will make the statement again.

Why didnt the originator of the controvesy see that?

What we are trying to say is that the originator of the controvesy SHOULD have said "Hey thats offensive... oh wait aussie advert it wouldnt be offensive in aust."

Therfore no controvesy.

1 Reply

@Eorl,

If you get the economics, you get the economics.

That's all I'm saying, too. It was poison for them.

Eorl wrote:

So you don't think it's racist for Americans (of any colour) to see West Indian cricket fans as "blacks"? You think it's OK for them to be told, essentially, that it's OK for them to think that

Short answer -- if one of the West Indians in the advertisement was trying to hail a cab in America, I think they'd have an equally hard time as an African-American would. Which is a harder time than the white KFC-hander-outer would have.

Eorl wrote:

, and that the mistake was ours?

I think that's a crucial point here. I don't think the mistake was Australia's in terms of the Australians who made and acted in the ad. I don't think those individuals are lacking because they were unaware of American cultural norms -- I don't think the world needs to know and subscribe to those norms when they don't apply locally.

But KFC (an American company, not incidental) made a mistake because in this day and age it wasn't necessarily gonna be corralled in Australia, they should have known that. And it's a hot-button ad here.

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@dadpad,

I was typing when you posted this. I think my latest post responds to this, let me know if not. (Basically, that no, I don't think the Australians involved necessarily needed to know this. However, this ad + KFC = bad publicity in America, so of course they had to pull it.)

Just as I think it would be better if the Australians realized that was a minefield, I think it would be better if Americans who watched it realized that the minefield was accidental and not meant to push their buttons. However, I think it's reasonable both that the Australians wouldn't realize and that the Americans would go "whoa."

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How is pulling this ad in any way the US asserting anything on Australia? I don't see the choice to pull the ad as a declaration that the Aussies are racist either.

It's an ad. It's objective is to build a POSITIVE association with the brand or product.

Remember the "Whoa! You got a Dell!" Dude? Yeah, he got caught doing something illegal and Dell Computers stopped airing his ads.

Remember the Shamwow and Slap Chop guy? He beat up a hooker. Ads yanked off the air.

What about Tiger woods? His extra-marital affairs cost him millions in lost endorcements.

If you don't remember the first two my Aussie friends, I don't blame you, but the third should be pretty clear. Here's my point: Companies must protect their brand and their product. Ads are their opportunity to entertain and entice the customer. This incident isn't about racism. In fact, it's gloriously unremarkable in terms of race. But to understand how unremarkable it is, it means all the potential customers would need to know the context. The American public is for the most part uneducated on cricket culture and practices. KFC has the least amount of trouble if they pull the ad.

Perhaps, some here think it would have been better to leave the ad up and let KFC suffer some blowback RE sales in the states? How does that make sense? Is having the ad up worth that much? Be real.

It isn't about sending a message to the Aussies: "Hey you racist jerkfaces!"
It is about sending a message to the Americans: "We'd never intentionally promote these stereotypes.

Pulling the ad was the right thing to do, and it has nothing to do with putting the Aussies down or asserting American culture on others.

T
K
O

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Frankly, I think far too much intrinsic value is being placed on a single television advertisement. It's just a damn TV commercial, after all. KFC parent corporation saw that there was a potential controversy, and decided to pull the ad because even a minute chance of a small amount of negative publicity that a tiny portion of their customer base might pay any attention at all outweighs any positive benefit that one little ad might have had for them.

If you consider the amount of revenue that ad might generate (very little in the greater scheme of things, I should think) vs. what they would have to spend just to explain why the ad is not offensive in the press, I suspect that they would come out in the red. Really, I can't imagine getting exercised if an ad for a Chinese-owned corporation got pulled from American television because of possible negative press in China. The worst hit KFC could take would be a proliferation of headlines like "KFC pulls 'racist' Australian TV spot," as the vast majority of people in their major market (and elsewhere, I bet) wouldn't bother to read past the headline.

(And for what it's worth, I have not seen or heard anything at all about this outside of this thread. I do see, from the Huffington post -- because I Googled the subject to see how much buzz there was in virtual-land -- that KFC did feel the need to issue this statement last week: "KFC Australia is removing the television advertisement that was being run in conjunction with the Australian cricket season. We apologize for any misinterpretation of the ad as it was not meant to offend anyone.")

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@Diest TKO,

Diest TKO wrote:

How is pulling this ad in any way the US asserting anything on Australia?

It isn't. The assertions of racism were made. The response was to pull and apologize.

Quote:

Pulling the ad was the right thing to do, and it has nothing to do with putting the Aussies down or asserting American culture on others.

Pulling the ad was the wrong thing to do morally (no-brainer financially). It should have been defended and explained. I'm sure it was fiercely defended by the Aus branch of the company and it's ad agency, but we'll never hear a word about that!

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@sozobe,

sozobe wrote:

Just as I think it would be better if the Australians realized that was a minefield,

That would require Australians to view West Indians as, before anything else, "black people" to even suspect the presence of a minefield. That would not be better for us, or for the West Indians, although it might be better for the Americans.

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@Eorl,

So...

Now there is a moral obligation to run an advertisement about fried chicken?

That's funny.

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@ebrown p,

No, you're right. In fact, it's going to be so hard for KFC to produce an appropriate ad for the West Indies cricket tour, that it's probably best they withdraw their sponsorship completely.

In fact, it's probably safest for them not to sponsor any sport that includes black people from now on. Because that might look racist.

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@Eorl,

yes, that's the ticket Eorl, in fact I would go to the extent of banning fried chicken from Australia. But then there's the alternative of banning advertising, all advertising. Of course that would entail banning t.v., radio, print media, internet, well pretty much everything that might be interpreted by anyone as being offensive. actually you should consider living in a bubble.

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KFC Pulls "Racist" Australian TV spot

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