White Man Gives Blacks Fried Chicken -- Is this KFC Ad Racist?
Submitted by DeepDiveAdmin
on Jan 6, 2010
A KFC ad that is running in Australia is being accused of exploiting racial stereotypes to sell chicken.
It shows a white man at a cricket match surrounded by dancing, celebrating blacks. The man asks, "Need a tip when you’re stuck in an awkward situation?” and proceeds to share a bucket of fried chicken with the crowd.
Watch and tell us if you think it is racist or not:
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You headed this: "White Man Gives Blacks Fried Chicken - Is this KFC Ad Racist?"
What a disgustingly racist headline!
Ever heard of the line "Have you stopped beating your wife?"!!
KFC doesn't have racist overtones to us in Australia.
West Indian cricketers certainly aren't viewed as 'blacks" in any remotely pejorative sense.
How about, instead ...
Aussie bloke gives bucket of KFC to noisy fans of opposing team at cricket hoping to quieten them down.
(And that is the truth!)
Please tell, what would you say if it were an Aussie bloke in the middle of the English Barmy Army doing the same thing?
It's a fun ad - nothing more, nothing less.
We are Aussies and love our WIndy cricket opponents.
And we don't think of the WIndies as 'black'!
They are just cricketers.
And we just want to beat them
Sometimes, unfortunately, they are just too good!
KFC were the sponsors of the recent cricket tour which involved the West Indies.
KFC sponsors the West Indies cricket team.
This is one of a series of (rather lame) ads by KFC (Cricket Survival Guide).
The series of ads includes an ad ridiculing Aus captain Ricky Ponting for scoring a duck while thinking about his order for a KFC bun with mayo and chicken fillet (yuk!). Ricky is 'white' - is that racist ?! C'mon!
I guess that the whole point of this nonsense is to get maximum publicity world-wide for KFC.
Call me a cynic if you like.
A few months ago an American KFC ad was viewed as potentially racist because of its treatment of Asians. Pot... kettle...
If we can't get past one person sharing food with another, how the hell will we ever have decent race relations . Would the Americans have preferred a black person sharing food with a white guy? Give me a break.
Further, this ad is only being seen in Australia, so, no, we don't get to comment. They do.
Listen up America - planet Earth is not America, Australia is not America! We don't all have exactly the same cultural tropes, cultural history or cultural references as you despite the best efforts of Hollywood to homogeanize culture worldwide. The "Blacks love fried chicken" thing has no resonance in Australia - get that? When I saw the Blues Brothers as a kid I didn't understand the reference to "two whole fried chickens on white toast" until an American exchange student explained it to me in Unversity years later. The knee - jerk reactions your culture has towards any supposed ethnic slur (even when none exists) issues speaks volumes about your OWN inability to deal with your internal cultural conflicts, sort that out yourselves and leave us out of it!
you come from "Kangaroos" right?
http://taddelay.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/map-according-to-us1.jpeg
Seriously, you should know better than to get your bassackwards view of the world from BBC.
This society wants sensationalism to abound so that they can sell magazines or ratings for TV. And then we have the activists who stir the fires to keep something going to validate their own importance. I had hoped with Obama as President it would help, but I cant say that it has.
Mr. Jacksonstreet71, I appreciate your desire to distance yourself from us ugly Yanks. But KFC is an American brand. We own it. It's a big cultural symbol here. Not sure you know but the logo is "Colonel Sanders," who represents an old Southern gentleman in a white suit and the company goes back to the 1930s -- you know, when American blacks were despicably considered subhuman. In other words, this stuff runs deep. It's fine if you don't care. But we care. And because we care, we've actually made vast racial improvements in our country.
So please don't try and give Americans lessons on race relations . By the way, how is the Aussies' treatment of the Aboriginal people going Down Under? You say this KFC outrage shows our "inability to deal with our internal cultural conflicts." I'm sure Australia's indegenous people would tell us that you're one to give lectures on the subject. So thanks, but no thanks.
As Americans, we get to comment on this because it's an American product. No matter where it's sold. Just the facts.
This commercial is awful. KFC should know better.
Dear Vandal K
This ad pertains to the sport of Cricket which is played amongst England, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Souh Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. It has no cultural relevance to your country whatsoever. The depiction of a West Indian crowd clearly supporting a winning team and a caucasian aussie is not racist - it is simply the reality - most West Indians spectators and cricketers are not "white"; most Australians are, and some are not. What would you have the advertisers do? Lighten up. Please don't lecture us on race relations - all countries have race issues that aren't handled as well as we would like - including the US.
The title is the only racist thing here - and it was never a part of the commercial. The large group of people are not 'Blacks', they are West Indians. They are mad for cricket and they are at a game. The sponsor sells chicken, they are offered the chicken by the 'white guy', who is actually on the opposing side - not racially, but of the actual sport being played. It is obvious that the West Indian team are winning, thus they are having a great time and the 'white guy' is feeling 'awkward'. I reckon he is probably better off with the West Indian fans than the English ones, they would probably be doing horrible things to him.
Anyway, he is feeling bad that his team are not doing well, and that the winning team are having such a great time around him. He has the sponsors product and offers it to them - a kind gesture that for him, gives him some peace from their excitement. This relieves his 'awkwardness' - it isn't because they are 'Blacks', not even because they are West Indian.
Once again, this was produced for the Australian market. It was not intended for the US. If your guilt of your forefathers is so blinding as to blur the line between people (are they all just 'Blacks' to you?) then I really think there is something very wrong with your understanding of the world.
What if McDonalds was the sponsor - would you be so angry that the 'Blacks' were offered burgers?