KFC Pulls "Racist" Australian TV spot

Quote:

Sozobe has flat out told you that she just meant that the ad wouldn't be a problem if it were "purely" confined to Australia but you still want to read that as being US-centric and thinking that it represents a projection of US stereotypes elsewhere?

It is US centric and it does represent a projection of US sterotypes elsewhere.

Soz has explained her intent with the "purely" Australian thing. However I think it goes to show the constricted view of some (many?) Americans. The ad would not have been a problem ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD except for the US.

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@dadpad,

<sputter>

Are you serious?

How does contrasting Australia (where the ad was made) and America (where the company whose name on the ad is based) say anything at all about the rest of the world? Much less being US-centric, projecting, etc?

This is why I keep saying that the fact that KFC is an American company is not incidental.

This has gotten really goofy. I mean not that it wasn't goofy already, but goofier.

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In fact, the ad is not a problem in the U.S., either. You've got some idiot yobs who posted it on youtube, it was the hit of the hour, it never made it as a mainstream story, and now it's been forgotten, except for places like this. That some idiots were able to raise a stink about it here does provide evidence of just how loony attitudes here can be, but i would not consider that as reliable evidence that most Americans, or even, relative to our entire population, many Americans are that goofy. Maybe they are, but if so, i hadn't noticed.

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@dadpad,

Let me put it another way... WHO do you have a problem with?

I've said I don't think Australians were being racist when they made the ad.

I don't think Australians who watched the ad and thought it was funny were being racist.

Yet you seem to disagree with me -- what are you disagreeing with, exactly?

Who are the Young Turks? KFC?

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@sozobe,

It's all that damned YouTube's fault!

<<shakes fist at sky>>

It's almost like they let anyone post videos there.

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@sozobe,

The Young Turks are the clowns who posted the vid on youtube. I find the name ironic, as that was the name of the political movement in Turkey before and during the First World War who took over from the last sultan, and the people responsible for the Armenian genocide. I'm sure these clowns have no clue about that.

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@Setanta,

I see, thanks.

OK, so all the Australians here are only mad at the Young Turks? Not us (because we recognize that in the Australian context in which it was made and shown it's not racist) and not KFC (because they understand the business realities of these things)?

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Quote:

Who are the Young Turks?

This are the media crew who originated the controvesy.

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@dadpad,

Curse you Young Turks!

<<shakes fist at sky>>

Expressing your opinion in a YouTube video like that!

Do you know the DAMAGE you have done-- a fast food commercial was CANCELED because of you!

Think of the children!

1 Reply

@sozobe,

Well, i think some of the Australians here are mad at all the Americans, and not just the Young Turks, because of frustrations built up over years and years. Personally, i don't think any of it is much of a big deal, but i fully understand why the Australians would be pissed. As i pointed out before, i think it is likely that Americans are operating with more blind spots than one can reasonably accuse the Australians of having.

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@Setanta,

I'd happily concede that contest though -- America has a lot of blind spots for sure. (Since it seems to be in dispute, I mean it in the "not something on their radar," neutral sense rather than any judgment or condemnation. This was not on the Australian radar, doesn't need to be.)

The Australians seem to be pissed at me though and since I like them and prefer for them not to be pissed at me I'm trying to figure out what I actually said to incur it.

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@ebrown p,

Quote:

Expressing your opinion in a YouTube video like that!

Oh, AND on their nationally broadcast (via XM and Sirius radio) radio show that plays every morning, and is rebroadcast in the evening and on weekends.

I dont' know how big they are nationwide, but I've been listening to them on and off for years, and never even knew they were on Youtube.

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@sozobe,

sozobe wrote:

OK, so all the Australians here are only mad at the Young Turks? Not us (because we recognize that in the Australian context in which it was made and shown it's not racist)

and all the other Americans that made the same value judgements. I've seen the polls and read the comments at a number of different sources.

...and to some extent those here who said or essentially implied "well its a storm in a teacup doesnt really matter and they should have known better"
How ******* patronising, isolated and insular is that?!

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@sozobe,

Well sometimes you really piss me off, too, Soz. But i don't like to mention it.

(NB: reference to a very old joke, which is not worth telling.)

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I don't think I have weighed in on this yet. (drum roll. everybody holds their breath, "What's the yutz got to say to be taking our time?) It is all about economics and pleasing the customers, with KFC, as with all profit oriented concerns. I didn't see anything racist in the commercial, but they reacted to stem controversy. I would have taken the same move, under similar circumstances. After all, it is not that difficult to come up with a different commercial. You want to sell chicken, not philosophy. I have not read the entire thread. Undoubtedly the nuances that tickle the argument along largely escape me. Each nation has its own hangups and a company like KFC has to answer to them all in this time of history. When an apartment complex advertises, we have to avoid showing any people at all, avoid references in text to age, race, religion, family - in short, all we can say is, we have wonderful apartments, with amenities. That is how we avoid getting accused of discrimination. I don't know much about racism as it may or may not exist in Australia or many other places. That is why I would be as noncommittal as our apartment ads in another land.

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@dadpad,

dadpad wrote:

The other thing that has been going on here is the "yes but..." or "i agree but...."
To us there isnt any "but" about it. The Young Turks got wrong, full stop end of story.

However (is that still ok to use?), the complaints here went a lot further than the Young Turks and it wasn't the full stop end of story for any of the Australians here either.

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@dadpad,

dadpad wrote:

It is US centric and it does represent a projection of US sterotypes elsewhere.

Soz has explained her intent with the "purely" Australian thing. However I think it goes to show the constricted view of some (many?) Americans. The ad would not have been a problem ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD except for the US.

Like sozobe keeps saying, the fact that this is a US company is not incidental. Whether it would be a problem anywhere else in the world doesn't change that this is an American company and that it is a problem for them in America. It's a US-centered company, so taking the problems it has in the US into account doesn't make sozobe US-centric. She's not saying anyone else in the world should have these values or even care about them. She's just recognizing the impact of American culture on an American company.

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@dadpad,

dadpad wrote:

and all the other Americans that made the same value judgements. I've seen the polls and read the comments at a number of different sources.

I'm interested in the polls if you still remember where you saw them. I just looked for some and could only find one where the overwhelming majority saw it as lighthearted fun.

And I'd also caution against assuming that people who are offended by the ad and consider it "racist" actually think that it was intentionally so, or that Australians are racist. There certainly are idiots like that, as the examples in the Young Turks program illustrates but many might just be offended at the imagery picking that scab for them.

And what's so inherently bad about applying your values to another culture? Do you also think it is "******* patronising, isolated and insular" to tell another country not to eat an animal because it's offensive in your culture? This ad row is pretty damn trivial compared to just about any cross-cultural conflict so why so much uproar from Australia about this one, and not the many other patronizing, isolated and insular perspectives Americans are often guilty of holding?

I had a visitor over New Years who thought more people here in Costa Rica should speak English in Costa Rica. I found that quotidian American ignorance more patronizing, isolated and insular than this KFC row for example.

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@dadpad,

dadpad wrote:

The other thing that has been going on here is the "yes but..." or "i agree but...."
To us there isnt any "but" about it. The Young Turks got wrong, full stop end of story.

Perhaps you're the pot calling the kettle a West Indian.

I don't see the full stop. I hear plenty of "yesbuts" coming from down under.

T
K
O

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@dadpad,

dadpad wrote:

Quote:
Similarly then, asking Americans to simply not have that sore or negative association would be an assertion of cultural change by the same logic too would it not?

No it is not. We are not asking you to not have the negetive association. just dont apply it to us.

You and Eorl can talk it out...

Quote:

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.

(read as: Maybe Americans should.)

You aren't being asked to accept the negative association. Are you telling me that you see that ad now and (1) see African Americans (even though the stereotype extends all all people with any African ancestry) in the stands, and (2) don't see cricket fan tension, but racial tension in it's place?

Do you believe your country has been victimized/slandered here in this thread?

T
K
O

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KFC Pulls "Racist" Australian TV spot

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