KFC Pulls "Racist" Australian TV spot

Thank you, masporche.

That is kinda spooky when you consider the content of that video.

So, if these guys have any real credibility with their listeners, they've sold the message that Australia is incredibly racist, on the basis of that KFC advertisement?

Well, yes.

We get that the ad pushes buttons for USians.

We DON'T get that it can't be cleared up by information.

I mean, I get that KFC had to pull the ad. I don't expect companies to behave differently.

I don't get the difficulty there seems to be in accepting that it is not inherently racist....the "oh, I get Australians have a blind spot about how racist it is"..."maybe it's ok in a purely Australian context". It's ok in a most of the WORLD context.

Even here, from nuanced clever people. Actually, that is what has made me quite upset.

Given that nobody has taken up playing with my analogy...maybe I can think of another.

Say there's an icecream ad for, say, Tom and Jerry's.

There is a a lovely blonde woman with blue eyes woman serving ice cream to a clamouring crowd of people with green, brown, hazel and grey eyes.

Now, it so happens that in Egregia, the indigenous people have every eye colour except blue.

They were conquered by a blue-eyed race, and made to work in awful factories.

Egregia is very hot....so the workers were given ice cream to keep them capable of working for far longer until they dropped.

The Egregians managed to overthrow the blue-eyed dominance, but blue eyes and ice cream being given to non-blue eyed Egregians is a powerfully disturbing image to Egregians. Ice cream scares the hell out of blue-eyed Egregians.

Egregia is far from the US, but some Egregians are visiting the US, and see this ad.

They are outraged!!!

How DARE the Americans air an ad so obviously and deeply offensive to all non blue-eyed people, and all blue-eyed people with a shred of understanding!!!

This is an act of despicable eyeism!!

The traumatised Egregians post the ad on Youtube. The Americans are condemned for their terrible offence!!!

Egregians demand the ad be pulled.

Some Americans point out that there is no problem with ice cream and non-blue eyedness in the USA,

The eyeist ad is not confined to the US, say the Egregians.

Many Egregians discuss the terrible American eyeism.

The Egregians are not stupid.

Some learn that the icecream/eye thing is not offensive in the US.

Kind Egregians say that they can understand why the ignorant Americans might have a blind spot for the bleedingly obvious, perhaps because of their isolation and ignorance?

Some Americans point out that the ad is offensive ONLY in Egregia.

The Egregians say that the Americans have to understand the enormity of the eyeism, and that American ignorance of the offence simply doesn't work in a world where the ad is not confined to the USA.

But it's ONLY seen as a problem by Egregians!!! say many USAians....

Some Egregians are not persuaded and continue to hammer the American for their terrible eyeism. Typical, they say.

Others point out that, if we view it purely as an American thing, it might not be INTENTIONALLY eyeist, although still clearly a bigoted creation...though they remain uncertain because they are troubled by seeing non-blue eyed people making a noise, (noise is an eyeist stereotype in Egregia) and being quieted by that old eyeist horror...ice cream.


IT'S NOT OFFENSIVE IN ALMOST THE WHOLE WORLD, scream the frustrated Americans, feeling misjudged.

You feel we are being patronized as somehow less evolved, less aware than more "advanced" folk, bunny?

By some maybe......but that isn't my beef.

It is that, no matter how often the goddam thing is explained, there is still this inability to see by some great people that there is not a blind spot about an obviously racist thing, or that it is only the US that has this particular sensitivity.

It's like there is no moving outside a parochial paradigm even enough to see that they are IN it.

I know it is a very difficult thing for we humans to do, and I don't do it all the time.

Anyway, I have spent more than enough effort on the stupid thing.

Those that get what I am trying to say, have. Those that haven't, won't.

C'est la vie!

OK. I see.





I'm kinda glad then, that I didn't get as involved in this thread as you & the other Oz folk did. I was wondering why it kept going on & on & on & on .....

well, with jokes it is usually true that if you have to explain it, it is no longer a joke...
unless it's an inside joke.
so perhaps this is such a thing, an inside commercial, but as such, it is bound to be misperceived outside the circle of those that do get it without any explanation. if the company is global, maybe it's not the wisest choice, then again who knows. maybe it did pay off economically, attracting so much press and commentary worldwide.

meh.

I think that you are wrong to assume that the Americans here are telling you that you have a blind spot about racism. There has only been one person here who came up with bullshit of that variety, and that was Brown, who stated on page one (and without the least evidence) that Australia has a problem with race, and is "worse" than the United States with regard to racism. I don't see that any other American here has been attempting to imply that Australians have a blind spot with regard to race relations. If Brown is your only critic here, you're home free.

It has been a long time since anyone was so obsessed with me.

(I am amused and flattered).

Actually I think it was snood who first put it in those terms.

dlowans analogy is spot on about the situation as it is.

I gave an analogy at one point about how I feel. Like a kid playing a ghost game with a sheet with his black best friend whose been caught and punished for playing a kkk game. It was explained to me that my analogy was wrong about the situation, but that isn't how I feel. To understand our reactions just think about how this kid would feel under that accusation.

I backed out of this thread because there didn't seem to be much to be gained... I'd already said most of what I thought and it seems to keep being misconstrued. So I'll say it once more, more baldly and see what happens:

Do you get that I DON'T think Australians were being racist when they made this ad? That I'm NOT accusing Australians of racism?

Well, you'd have to show me the post. I saw him post to the effect that remarks about fried chicken had racial overtones, but i didn't recall that he claimed Australians have a blind spot about racism. I know of only one member who has done that, and he stated it explicitly.

You're absolutely right, Eorl, Snood did suggest that Australia might have a blind spot for this sort of thing. I consider the remark to be unwarranted, and as was the case with Brown's hateful drivel, Snood provided no basis for making the remark.

My cavil was that he said we had a blind spot about the fried chicken/dark person thing. I don't think he said at all that we had a blind spot about racism. I am sure many of us do, as do many other folk.

As I tried to explain then, and I think that Set has understood at last, I don't think you can be said to have a blind spot about something that isn't there.

Fried chicken and darker people doesn't have racist connotations in Oz.

I think calling it a blind spot means that Snood has a blind spot about how peculiar to his culturer a fried chicken "thing" is.

I get you aren't doing so knowingly. I just think you are still firmly in your paradigm.

As I have said, I find your "maybe it's not racist in a purely Australian setting" and whatever the heck you said about being worried about the darker people being noisy strongly suggests that you are still seeing US-peculiar concerns in there....just as with Snood's comment.

I know you said something about you said Australian because the ad is Australian, or somesuch....but can you not get that the "purely" strongly suggests that you think it racist in all other circumstances?

I suspect we'll just have to agree to disagree.

It's obviously a very fine point for all of you guys, and has been very hard for any non Australian to get.

I have a couple of things to add. but I have to get to work.

I'll give this a whack (I've bolded the parts I've changed).

*****

Say there's an icecream ad for, say, Goodgrief Icecream, which is an Egregian company.

An American crew makes an ad, meant to air in America, for Goodgrief Icecream in which there is a a lovely blonde woman with blue eyes woman serving ice cream to a clamouring crowd of people with green, brown, hazel and grey eyes.

Now, it so happens that in Egregia, the indigenous people have every eye colour except blue.

They were conquered by a blue-eyed race, and made to work in awful factories.

Egregia is very hot....so the workers were given ice cream to keep them capable of working for far longer until they dropped.

The Egregians managed to overthrow the blue-eyed dominance, but blue eyes and ice cream being given to non-blue eyed Egregians is a powerfully disturbing image to Egregians. Ice cream scares the hell out of blue-eyed Egregians.

Egregia is far from the US, but some Egregians are visiting the US, and see this ad.

They are outraged!!!

How DARE the Americans air an ad so obviously and deeply offensive to all non blue-eyed people, and all blue-eyed people with a shred of understanding!!!

This is an act of despicable eyeism!!

The traumatised Egregians post the ad on Youtube. The Americans are condemned for their terrible offence!!!

Egregians demand the ad be pulled.

Some Americans point out that there is no problem with ice cream and non-blue eyedness in the USA,

The eyeist ad is not confined to the US, say the Egregians.

Many Egregians discuss the terrible American eyeism.

The Egregians are not stupid.

Some learn that the icecream/eye thing is not offensive in the US.

Kind Egregians say that they get that Americans wouldn't realize the history, but the fact remains that it's offensive to Egregians.

Some Americans point out that the ad is offensive ONLY in Egregia.

The Egregian Goodgrief Icecream people say darn tootin', and we're an Egregian company. This ad floating around with our name on it is offensive in our own country and that's kinda stinky for our bottom line. Whether or not the Americans meant the offense, it's offensive here in Egregia, so we gotta pull.

The Americans are deeply offended. How dare you commit this cultural imperialism??, they cry. It's not offensive here!!

Egregians say, yes we know, but it is here, and we're an Egregian company.

This goes on for a bit.

Quite a bit actually.

*****

Again -- it's not incidental that KFC is an American company.

Okay, okay. There is no Australian connection between fried chicken and race. Obviously, there is no blind spot for something that doesn't exist. I understand. Please don't make me say I "get it". I'm not running for president.

OK, let's change the "its not racist in a purely Australian setting" to "its only racist in an American setting" (I think the latter is probably correct).

I will still ask-- "so what?"

What if the only problem with this ad is that it is offensive in an American setting? I still don't see why KFC all of a sudden has a moral obligation to run this fast food ad.

Racial sensitivity is not a bad thing. People will disagree about what is offensive or not, and sometimes offending people is necessary. But, what is the point of offending customers when you don't have to?

This is, after all, just about selling fast food.

How many Americans ought to have been sacked over it?
(That suggestion was made by Robert, not you soz.)

We get that you don't blame us or hold us responsible for what we've done, but it still seems as though you see it as an innocent mistake rather than a complete non-mistake. The only mistake is in the misinterpretation by the misinterpreter. This commercial is not like a work of art that is open to different ways of seeing it. It's clearly and obviously an Australian in a West Indian crowd as part of an ongoing campaign.

The racism involved in the misinterpretation ought to be dealt with, not pandered to. Saying "sorry, sorry, our mistake" may be the best commercial decision, but it still implies that it should never have been made or aired in the first place. It encourages and allows the racist misinterpretation to continue. No American has been asked to re-assess what they are seeing.

Then you see a BBC article where it suggests that is the second time in a month that Australia has looked racist to Americans. Now it's part of a pattern of behaviour!

As unlikely as it is, I would love to have seen KFC say "No, the ad is perfectly OK in context. Don't complain to us until you understand the context" and let the controversy rage until it IS all out in the open.