• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Racist Commercial

Miss Chicken

Miss Chicken

Little three legged cat with attitude
Admiral
This commercial appeared on Australian TV last year. i would like to see people's opinion of it.

i can fully understand that KFC were unwise to make the commercial because they as an American company they are aware of the negative stereotype of black people liking fried chicken. However Australians viewing the ad do not have that stereotype. When the commercial was airing Australia were playing the West indies and the West Indies team were being sponsored by KFC.

Anyway here is the commercial

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FftZt-Dw_hQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/yt]
 
That radio commercial is older than me and I am 53. I think back then many countries would have had similar commercials, certainly if you look at catroons from the 40s and 50s many of them are very racist.
 
Questionable, yes, racist, no.

I assume there is something like an advertising standards commission in Australia and if they okayed it...........
 
I think it is the other way around - as Rolf Harris has aged he has look more and more like The Colonel.
 
Roger Wilco said:
Doesn't everybody like fried chicken?
Click to expand...

Yes, but because of how it originally became a popular Southern meal and the way it was often associated with blacks in a negative stereotypical way in advertisements, it can be a potentially sensitive issue.

When it was introduced to the American South, fried chicken became a common staple. Later, as the slave trade led to Africans being brought to work on southern plantations, the slaves who became cooks incorporated seasonings and spices that were absent in traditional Scottish cuisine, enriching the flavor. Since most slaves were unable to raise expensive meats, but generally allowed to keep chickens, frying chicken on special occasions spread through the African American communities of the South. It endured the fall of slavery and gradually passed into common use as a general Southern dish. Since fried chicken traveled well in hot weather before refrigeration was commonplace, it gained further favor in the periods of American history when segregation closed off most restaurants to the black population. Fried chicken continues to be among this region's top choices for "Sunday dinner" among both blacks and whites. Holidays such as Independence Day and other gatherings often feature this dish.

Since the American Civil War, traditional slave foods like fried chicken, watermelon, and chitterlings have suffered a strong association with African American stereotypes and blackface minstrelsy. This was commercialized for the first half of the 20th century by restaurants like Sambo's and Coon Chicken Inn, which selected exaggerated depictions of blacks as mascots, implying quality by their association with the stereotype. Although also being acknowledged positively as "soul food" today, the affinity that African American culture has for fried chicken has been considered a delicate, often pejorative issue. While the perception of fried chicken as an ethnic dish has been fading for several decades, what with the ubiquity of fried chicken dishes in the US, it persists as a racial stereotype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried_chicken#History
Click to expand...


As far as the Australian ad in the OP, it appears to me that they probably intended it to mean it was an awkward situation because you were stuck amongst the opposing team's fans, and therefore you offer them some KFC as a "crowd pleaser" (after the name of the meal) to ingratiate yourself with them. The fact that the opposing team's fans were black (West Indian) was just because that's who was being played at the time and was incidental to the point being made. It hopefully would have been made the same way had they been playing England or New Zealand in cricket.

But that depends on if the makers of the ad were Australian and never ran it by any American counterparts in the American-owned company, so that's a big if. I don't really think KFC would intentionally risk that kind of negative publicity in the age of YouTube when a video can be easily spread around, though.
 
This ad was one of several similar ads that aired at the same time and in them an Australian guy called Mick used KFC to solve his problems that revolved around cricket.

In one ad he was trying to watch the cricket on TV but his two flatmates (both white) were being noisy so he gave them KFC to shut them up. In another ad he wanted to watch The cricket on his cricket-hating future in-laws (also white) TV so he told them there was a bucket of KFC in the backyard leaving the TV free for him to watch the cricket on.
 
Vampire Chicken said:
This ad was one of several similar ads that aired at the same time and in them an Australian guy called Mick used KFC to solve his problems that revolved around cricket.

In one ad he was trying to watch the cricket on TV but his two flatmates (both white) were being noisy so he gave them KFC to shut them up. In another ad he wanted to watch cricket on cricket-hating future in-laws (also white) TV so he told them there was a bucket of KFC in the backyard leaving the TV free for him to watch the cricket on.
Click to expand...

That seems like an important bit of information that would have rendered the entire point of this thread moot had it been shared right from the start.

If you knew it's part of a series of commercials that clearly are not racially motivated, why ask if it's racist in the OP and leave out a crucial piece of information regarding the answer?
 
Because, despite being told that it was one in a series of commercials, many commentators still insisted that this was racist.

Even pointing out that the people in the ad were not African American but West Indian didn't seem to alter the opinion of those that were offended by the commercial. Even when West Indians themselves said they were not offended.

for example, after receiving many emails from Australians The Young Turks continued to say that the commercial was racist.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_StDMpVhDk[/yt]
 
Vampire Chicken said:
i can fully understand that KFC were unwise to make the commercial because they as an American company they are aware of the negative stereotype of black people liking fried chicken.
Click to expand...

It's highly unlikely that this ad was run by anyone outside of Australia before it was aired.
 
And the previous comments on TYT.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaIhf41ctkM[/yt]
 
Vampire Chicken said:
Because, despite being told that it was one in a series of commercials, many commentators still insisted that this was racist.

Even pointing out that the people in the ad were not African American but West Indian didn't seem to alter the opinion of those that were offended by the commercial. Even when West Indians themselves said they were not offended.
Click to expand...

None of which has anything to do with you not sharing that piece of information up front, but whatever. It just seemed like the kind of situation where if someone had come into the thread claiming the commercial was racist, you could spring that extra important bit of context on them after the fact, thus showing them the error of their ways, when in fact the error was yours for not giving them the complete picture from the start. It's not a big deal, it's just an odd thing to leave out.

for example, after receiving many emails from Australians The Young Turks continued to say that the commercial was racist.
Click to expand...
I'll take your word for it, because I find Cenk Uygur obnoxious on The Young Turks and his former stint on MSNBC.
 
When I started my OP I wasn"t aware of the other commerials in the series as I do not look at test cricket though I very occasionally look at one-day matches. Therefore I never saw the commercial when they aired as they aired during the test matches. I only became aware of this commercial today (I did state in my OP that it was from last year) when I was sent a link by an non-Australian.

Maybe I should have researched it a bit more instead of only looking at the commercial, the two TYT videos, three or four American news sites, an Australian morning show clip, and an Australian panel discussing it (none of whom mentioned the other ads) though I got to admit that when I got around to reading some of the comments on the videos I learnt that there were other commercials.
 
I think this is the beauty of a discussion forum...you brought what info you had and to no fault of your own....more surfaced and we all get a clearer picture.

I worked at KFC in the past and I have seen alot of stupid stuff. What amazes me is in USA...at least in my area we have potato wedges...it seem in your area and other places outside the USA that they have shoe string fries.

Again. No worries Miss Chicken. :bolian:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Nerroth
  • Locked
Baseball Beyond MLB: NPB, KBO, CPBL, ABL, WBSC, etc.
Replies
4
Views
972
1001001
1001001
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top