What's your take on this Australian KFC ad?

[believe09]

White dude is surrounded by angry looking black folks at a cricket match. The tag line is:
"Need a tip when you're stuck in an awkward situation?"

He gets out of the "awkward situation" by handing them a bucket of chicken.

This is what the KFC spokesperson had to say about the ad in Australia:
"It is a light-hearted reference to the West Indian cricket team ... The ad was reproduced online in the US without KFC's permission, where we are told a culturally-based stereotype exists, leading to the incorrect assertion of racism."

Incorrect assertion....hmmmm. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck....JMO


http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/06/kfc-australia-racist-commercial-kentucky-fried-chicken/

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

wow. very wrong IMO.

 

[Cubby]

Personally, I think what happens in Australia is up to their citizens to determine whether it is racist or not. If this was an ad in the US, yes, but every culture is different.

jmo

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

the point is, somehow, it was leaked, so we DID see it and it WAS offensive.

 

[Kimster]

I don't know what the racial issues are in Australia or if there are any. Maybe there aren't any and no one thinks a thing about it there. If so, that's great!

However, KFC is an international company and their ads should be sensitive to their customers on a global basis. JMO.

 

[Cypros]

I watched the ad and I didn't see any "angry-looking black people". The crowd was full of happy spectators playing music, clapping and swaying to the music. I was very confused as to why the one white guy felt uncomfortable. He is very uptight if he cannot enjoy a celebration. However, it seems that the point of the ad is to say that if you find yourself surrounded by fans of a rival team a good way to break the ice and make friends is to share your bucket of KFC chicken --nothing racist in that. I don't think that the Australians have a history of stereotyping the Aboriginal community as fried chicken eaters as African-Americans are stereotyped here in the states. Companies that advertise internationally create ads that appeal to their target audience, taking into account different culture histories. Not all commercials produced in the world are meant for Americans.

 

[believe09]

I watched the ad and I didn't see any "angry-looking black people". The crowd was full of happy spectators playing music, clapping and swaying to the music. I was very confused as to why the one white guy felt uncomfortable. He is very uptight if he cannot enjoy a celebration. However, it seems that the point of the ad is to say that if you find yourself surrounded by fans of a rival team a good way to break the ice and make friends is to share your bucket of KFC chicken --nothing racist in that. I don't think that the Australians have a history of stereotyping the Aboriginal community as fried chicken eaters as African-Americans are stereotyped here in the states. Companies that advertise internationally create ads that appeal to their target audience, taking into account different culture histories. Not all commercials produced in the world are meant for Americans.

I agree that he is seated in the middle of a group of happy smiling folk-I will take the word of the KFC spokesperson that this is a reference to the West Indian cricket team, so I ask myself why use a white guy in a sea of other non white faces?

So, I think there is a subtle message but not necessarily the fried chicken one referenced in the TMZ article. Maybe.

 

[VespaElf]

Its a cultural thing-right or wrong."Blackface" is still seen on television in Oz-most recently there was a situation with Chris Issak there and a talent show(http://elbo.ws/video/5dB6-uXvaNY/)so I think that this is a cultural issue as I hardly think KFC would seriously,knowingly make a obviously 'racist'ad,imo.

 

[Recovering-Lurker]

I don't know what the racial issues are in Australia or if there are any. Maybe there aren't any and no one thinks a thing about it there. If so, that's great!

However, KFC is an international company and their ads should be sensitive to their customers on a global basis. JMO.

BBM. That's where they messed up imo.

 

[sillygoose]

It's funny what people get their panties in a wad about. My take on it was that the guy was watching a cricket match in the midst of fans of the rival team. He handed them the chicken as a goodwill gesture, not because they were of a different race, but because they were of a different team. In Austrailia the stereotype of a certain race and fried chicken doesn't exist. The American equivilant would be something like a Steelers fan in the midst of a Cardinal crowd, handing them some Twix bars or something. Imagine France pitching a fit about it because of a stupid sterotype about candy bars and who he handed it to. No wonder the rest of the world hates us.

 

[Celt1997]

I don't know what the racial issues are in Australia or if there are any. Maybe there aren't any and no one thinks a thing about it there. If so, that's great!

However, KFC is an international company and their ads should be sensitive to their customers on a global basis. JMO.

But how is this ad insensitive? Should KFC never use someone of African descent in any of their ads?

In Australia, where cricket is huge, they play for something called the Frank Worrell Trophy. It is one of the MOST coveted trophies in all of cricket and it is the trophy given to the winner of a special set of matches between Australia and the West Indies, one of the hottest rivalries in cricket.

Americans would not understand that, and, thus their overreaction to this ad.

 

[Gozgals]

I feel they don't have the same racial issues in Australia as we have here. I don't find it offensive but I can see some Americans would. Globally, there could be a problem but I think that is the problem of other countries then. I see a guy breaking the ice with the team. I don't find it to be insensitive in the least bit. People are getting a tad bit to over-sensitive for their own good.

Gozgals

 

[OrdinaryLife]

I see nothing racial in that ad. Just some guy wearing a different colored shirt in the middle of many wearing the same red. This one, not so much. I'll let it be what it is. BTW, do any of us really get cricket? I usually try to keep them out of the house in Summer....

 

[Filly]

Believe it or not everything is not about race.

Us American's and our stereotypes aren't known worldwide.

Now, while wearing my Dallas Cowboy jacket in Philly I need some icebreaking, and I don't mean over my noggin. Some guy's dog was barking and snarling at me the other day. He goes "Weird, he never does that. Must be that ugly *advertiser censored*s jacket". I think I should have got him a bucket of KFC.:crazy:

 

[Slammed]

Epic win!!!!!!!!!

 

[nade]

I am Australian and here most people don't really understand what the fuss is about, or even why the ad has anything to do with race. It is a hot issue here at the moment.

Australia obviously doesn't have an African-American population, and it seems most Australians have never heard about this stereotype of them and fried chicken. It is really just KFC using the the cricket rivalry to sell their product, which happens to be chicken- regardless of race. As mentioned, we are playing a series with the West Indies this summer.

However it was certainly a silly move by an American company, and I can completely understand why it might be interpreted differently (as a black v white issue) by US dwellers given the struggles of African-Americans for equality.

However, all that really has nothing to do with Australia. Here there is no similar historical context of segregation between Australians and West Indians. People don't immediately read into representations of black people like that in this ad, and often probably wouldn't even think of this ad in racial terms at all. African-american/black v white is not an issue our society has had at the forefront.

 

[butwhatif?]

White dude is surrounded by angry looking black folks at a cricket match. The tag line is:
"Need a tip when you're stuck in an awkward situation?"

He gets out of the "awkward situation" by handing them a bucket of chicken.

This is what the KFC spokesperson had to say about the ad in Australia:
"It is a light-hearted reference to the West Indian cricket team ... The ad was reproduced online in the US without KFC's permission, where we are told a culturally-based stereotype exists, leading to the incorrect assertion of racism."

Incorrect assertion....hmmmm. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck....JMO
http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/06/kfc-australia-racist-commercial-kentucky-fried-chicken/

I didn't watch the ad, but I can explain. It's purely about sport and teams- not race. I'm no expert on cricket...... it's one of the most boring sports ever.... But australia is always playing against the 'west indies', our cricketing rivals.
So A US version would be something like a single Yankies supporter surrounded by a bunch of angry looking White sox supporters at a baseball match.
HTH