KFC Pulls "Racist" Australian TV spot

@dadpad,

dadpad wrote:

Just a note to say that it took until snoods post Page3(?) to actually understand that the concern with the advert was about black people and fried chicken. I still dont fully understand why that is a racial stereotype but can accept that it is in the US.

I'd like to know who made the advert.
The ad agency is probably australian KFC australia marketing department is probably Australian. These people would not have give the advert a second thought.
Even though the company is American by birthright there would have been no American input into the decision making that led to the advert appearing.
So i cant place blame for being racist at the feet of KFC.

EXACTLY what I was thinking.

I think KFC might need to educate its workers re the possibility of chauvinistic and parochial angst....but I really and deeply boil at the notion that Australians are racist in not anticipating US specific ****.

0 Replies

@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

Do you think it reasonable to call Australians racist for not reacting to US stuff like some special horrible significance to fried chicken?

No, I don't think there was any intent to be racist. But the effect of that ad on the American company given American history with fried chicken (which included the use of black stereotypes to sell chicken, see: Coon Chicken Inn) should be so obvious that I don't see why it should be controversial to pull that ad.

Quote:

Do you think it reasonable to call Australians racist for not having some stereotype of darker folk having fun being racist somehow?

No. I don't think there was any racist intent in the ads. I do see how it's almost like a caricature of American stereotypes though, if unintentionally so.

Quote:

I doubt the current generation of Ozzians would have any understanding of this, unless they were literature freaks, or studied US history.

I don't know, I picked up this tid bit of information from one of the many dozens of films (black comedies especially) that reference this.

Quote:

I think I cop it reasonably sweet when we are called racist when we are......I don't think not being innocent of the minutiae of racism as it is defined in in the US is being racist.

I wasn't calling Australia racist for this, and I didn't personally see anyone else do so. If they are they aren't being very objective.

Quote:

Do you think Australians are being labelled racist here

or

do you think KFC is being defined as racist here?

I'm not a great person to ask, my exposure to this is limited outside this thread. My guess is that the ad is being called racist, and mainly due to its effect if not its intent.

I'm sure some people extrapolated that to a KFC is racist, maybe some to an Australia is racist, but I suspect that was less than the people who just had a reaction to the apparent use of the stereotypes in the ads and didn't like that.

Those who say Australia is being racist for these ads are wrong in my opinion (if they exist).

1 Reply

@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

It looks utterly DISGUSTING to me!!!

Fat, fat, processed meat, nitrates, meat, fat, butter, fat...fat eggs...fat, simpke carbs and fat, and more fat.

Ewwwww.

I would be vomiting all day if I ate that for breakfast! Its even grosser than the English Breakfast!!!!

Yeah, well I'm not a rabbit. I think the English breakfast is pretty good. Mind you, I almost never eat this food for breakfast (I don't really eat breakfast) and neither do most Americans I know (except perhaps on a weekend, as a brunch, or if they are a truck driver).

I usually eat this meal for lunch or dinner and most places its served it's available at those times as well.

Quote:

Do you have some url that would change my impression?

Nah, if you are offput by that delicious fatty bacon there's no convincing you. But I think America is largely responsible for granola, and dry breakfast cereals going mainstream. Granola especially is pretty cool, I love that stuff. I like the North American pancake too, but not sure if you'd consider that a Scott thing.

1 Reply

@Robert Gentel,

Quote:

I don't know, I picked up this tid bit of information from one of the many dozens of films (black comedies especially) that reference this.

Ditto. And LOTS of literature. But I am VERY different in this respect from the mass of Australians.

Ok...we have the disconnect.

Quote:

No, I don't think there was any intent to be racist. But the effect of that ad on the American company given American history with fried chicken (which included the use of black stereotypes to sell chicken, see: Coon Chicken Inn) should be so obvious that I don't see why it should be controversial to pull that ad.

Once again...I don't think it controversial to pull the ad. I suspect DP is right...that the ad was created and ok'd by Australian KFC employees who had NO idea of the drama US folk feel re that imagery.

Do you think young Australians SHOULD know that US folk are likely to get all agitated ?

I think this ad is being used to beat Australians for being racist.

There is the disconnect.

Beat us up when it is called for.

This is pure crapola.

1 Reply

Ima have bacon, 2 eggs medium, hashbrowns (no gravy i'm on a diet) a pancake and some oatmeal tomorrow, just for you, rabbit.

(prolly break it into two or three meals, but hey...)

1 Reply

@Robert Gentel,

Well, maybe it's a breakfast thing. Massive meaty fatty breakfasts sicken me.

I have bacon and eggs as a treat sometimes for lunch (when I have had no breakfast.)

Pancakes for breakfast would make me sick.

Porridge and muesli is ok sometimes!

When I was in England, I figured I could use the breakfasts in B& B's to go all day on, and then have a light tea to save money.

Could NEVER eat one of them at breakfast time.

I am an early breakfastphobe.

0 Replies

@Rockhead,

Womit.

0 Replies

@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

Once again...I don't think it controversial to pull the ad. I suspect DP is right...that the ad was created and ok'd by Australian KFC employees who had NO idea of the drama US folk feel re that imagery.

Do you think young Australians SHOULD know that US folk are likely to get all agitated ?

I think anyone working for marketing for KFC should learn about this stereotype right after they learn what KFC stands for. It simply has that much potential harm to their brand stateside that it should be their first rule of marketing. I don't expect the average Australian to know or care, but I wouldn't find it completely unreasonable for the people responsible to lose their jobs.

Someone should have caught this in the KFC organization, I think it's shocking (and a bit

Quote:

I think this ad is being used to beat Australians for being racist.

Well if so I think that's pretty dumb.

2 Replies

@Diest TKO,

Diest TKO wrote:

I feel like I just connected a bit with my culture. Roots, ya'll.

But it's not the really the same (remembering the Engrish jingle "Ken-Ta-Ki Fu-Raaaaii-Do Chi-Ken" and drinking corn soup there as a kid....) as the American thing over there.

0 Replies

@Robert Gentel,

No one could possibly be sacked over that. Without any concept of "dark skin=likes fried chicken" (and that that is somehow a bad thing) in your head, how would you ever possibly imagine there was a problem?

I can imagine if there was a guy at the ad agency or even in Aus KFC management who saw the ad and said
"ummm, guys... we've got black people eating fried chicken... could be a problem in the US"
The response by everyone else would have been... "What?? don't be ridiculous."

1 Reply

@Robert Gentel,

I'm not even sure what KFC does stand for. One of our local disc jockeys got caught refering to the company as Kentucky Fried Chicken in an advertisement, and they hit the station like a ton of bricks. They may sell fried chicken, but they do not want their restaurants associated with fried foods, which just don't sound healthy.

They do sound kind of sensitive.

2 Replies

@Eorl,

Eorl wrote:

No one could possibly be sacked over that. Without any concept of "dark skin=likes fried chicken" (and that that is somehow a bad thing) in your head, how would you ever possibly imagine there was a problem?

It's an American company at some point in the chain of command there was a failure to make sure this was the single cardinal rule of their marketing. Which is what it would be if I were running the KFC department.

I think the ad getting all the way public represents a significant oversight on someone's part. At some point in the chain of command you reach guys who knew how bad such imagery would be to their branding very well.

Quote:

I can imagine if there was a guy at the ad agency or even in Aus KFC management who saw the ad and said
"ummm, guys... we've got black people eating fried chicken... could be a problem in the US"
The response by everyone else would have been... "What?? don't be ridiculous."

Yeah, but then he'd explain that fried chicken restaurants in America had a history of using black stereotypes and that this is a common snide reference to black people. He could use this helpful video to show them an example of it being used intentionally (this denied after-the-fact of course) as a racist slur.

Context: Tiger Woods was the first black person to win a major and he had the right as the winner of the tournament to pick the dinner next year, Fuzzy Zoeller had this to say:

Quote:

"That little boy is driving well and he's putting well. He's doing everything it takes to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not serve fried chicken next year. Got it?"

Then Zoeller smiled, snapped his fingers, and walked away. Then he turned and added, "or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve."

http://www.cnn.com/US/9704/21/fuzzy/

In case any of that is unclear, a black guy was breaking into white golf, and "boy", fried chicken, and collard greens are all commonly used in slurs about blacks in America. This kind of insult is why this is not acceptable for the KFC brand anywhere, it's that damaging.

Then the marketing guys would be like, "that sucks, we can't use this ad" and that would be that. Anyway, that is how it should have gone. Somewhere there was a significant cultural awareness oversight.

0 Replies

@roger,

roger wrote:

I'm not even sure what KFC does stand for. One of our local disc jockeys got caught refering to the company as Kentucky Fried Chicken in an advertisement, and they hit the station like a ton of bricks.

Yeah, that's why I said it'd be the first thing on the orientation list. I don't know what they want either the K or the F to stand for anymore, but you got to at least get that out to the marketing team that there's some kind of issue there. It could probably go out with the cultural awareness memo about the fried chicken stereotype, just in case their customers think the F and the C stand for "Fried Chicken".

1 Reply

@Wilso,

Quote:

May I suggest that you not comment on a culture that you obviously no ******* NOTHING ABOUT. For **** sake get over yourself.

And might I suggest you learn the difference between a comment and a question?

This is what I ASKED:

Quote:

Why is a lone white man surrounded by these musically adept and loud black people? Are they at a concert- or are they at a cricket game?

among several other questions to help me understand and perhaps clarify the context of the ad. Eorl was very helpful in explaining it to me. I learned something then about your culture which I didn't know and didn't assume that I knew. It helped me clarify my own feelings about the ad.

The only COMMENTARY I made was toward Kentucky Fried Chicken as a corporate body, and that was when I said I was glad they pulled the ad.
And I still AM GLAD THEY PULLED THE AD.

The tone of it was condescending and patronizing in a way that I find to be universally offensive. I would have been offended if the guy had been a German and the people had been Jews. I would have been offended if the guy had been a guy and the people had been women. I would have been offended if the guy had been a Brit and the people had been Indian. I would have been offended if the guy had been a southern redneck and the people had been African Americans.
I don't cherry pick my populations to defend against racism. I don't have a preconceived notion that Australians are racist. I try my best never to generalize or make sweeping assumptions against or about people or subjects I know nothing about.
I ask questions. That's how I learn. I've been doing it since I learned to talk.
Sorry if that bothers you to the extent that you have to curse at me.
But it doesn't change my opinion.

As I said in my first post - I don't give a **** that it was black people and chicken in this ad. The chicken is beside the point. The tone of the ad was condescending and patronizing.
I"M GLAD THEY PULLED IT.

(Sorry if my caps bother you as much as my questions - but at least I don't curse at people I've never met- call it a cultural difference if you want).

1 Reply

@Robert Gentel,

I think maybe the problem is, we don't see "blacks". We see West Indian cricket fans. There's no association to be made between West Indians cricket fans and fried chicken, is there? The racism exists here IN THE MINDS OF THOSE WHO JUST SEE "BLACKS", and transfer the entire thing into an american context. If the chicken was from Kentucky and the cricket fans from Italy, would there be a problem? No. So the source of the chicken isn't the problem, it's the colour of the skin of those enjoying it.

It should be defended, not removed. There is NOTHING inherently offensive about this ad.

1 Reply

@aidan,

Quote:

As I said in my first post - I don't give a **** that it was black people and chicken in this ad.

It's also immaterial to me that this ad was made and shown in Australia. I don't care where it was made - I don't like it.

But you know, I don't walk around with stereotypical and possibly false views about all people in a country (except maybe South Africa - I'm dying to go there for the geography and scenery- but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to contain my own derision dismay at some of the practices I've read and heard have gone on there STILL - to this day- but even there - I feel I need to see it for myself before I make a judgment).

I can tell you this much - I am much less anti-Australian (in fact not at all) than some of you are anti-American. Maybe you should look at your own tendencies in terms of making assumptions about people and their culture (apart and aside from what you read in the news and see on tv).

1 Reply

@Eorl,

For me Eorl it's the fact that in the history of our colonization of this planet - around the entire planet- across all boundaries- white people have been seen as civilizers and subduers of darker skinned people. This ad is reminiscent of that.
I fully understand it is inadvertent. Although the more I read that people are blind to this and don't care that it's offensive to anyone of any race or culture anywhere, the more I don't understand where people want the defense of racism to end.
Are you only appalled when people in your own country are offended? Don't people in other countries deserve the same sensitivity?
I find it condescending and offensive. I'm glad they removed it.

1 Reply

@aidan,

My reaction here is not against Americans en masse, it's against the ignorant reaction to the ad by whomever, the ridicule to which we are being subjected to for OUR assumed ignorant racism, and the cowardly removal of the ad. The woman in the video dadpad posted certainly exemplifies the complete lack of an ability to HEAR what we are saying and attempt to understand. She will go to her grave thinking that ad is about the black people / fried chicken thing.

3 Replies

@Eorl,

I didn't watch that video - I haven't read anything about this other than right here. But yeah - there are people everywhere in every country who don't want to listen or even try to understand where people are coming from.
If it makes you feel any better, I've lived all over the east coast of the US from Maine to Texas and I've never heard this thing about Australians as racist people.
It's not a commonly held American belief. I can assure you of that.

0 Replies

@roger,

roger wrote:

I'm not even sure what KFC does stand for. One of our local disc jockeys got caught refering to the company as Kentucky Fried Chicken in an advertisement, and they hit the station like a ton of bricks. They may sell fried chicken, but they do not want their restaurants associated with fried foods, which just don't sound healthy.

They do sound kind of sensitive.

It's definitely identified as Kentucky Fried Chicken here....though children might not know that, since the KFC thing became more of the emphasis a few years back.

I'd never thought about the different name...but I'd never have dreamed that it reflected an issue with fried chicken, for crissake!!!

Certainly not with racist connotations!

Not even the fried....who on earth would eat KFC if lard wasn't their thing?

0 Replies

KFC Pulls "Racist" Australian TV spot

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know