KFC pulls Aussie ad over 'race' reaction
Source: Agencies |
January 10, 2010, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Fast food giant KFC has pulled an Australian television advertisement after it was branded racist in the United States.
The ad depicts a white Australian cricket fan subduing boisterous black West Indian fans by sharing his fried chicken.
"Need a tip when you're stuck in an awkward situation?" the Australian asks. "Too easy," he adds after the West Indian supporters surrounding him give up their celebrating to eat his KFC.
The spot, which foreshadows a much-anticipated clash between the two fiercely competitive cricketing nations, ran for three weeks without raising a complaint in Australia.
But when it spread on the Internet to the United States, some people complained it played on a derogatory stereotype of black Americans. Minstrel shows, which portrayed demeaning caricatures of blacks in the 19th and early 20th century, often showed them eating fried chicken.
There is no such association in Australia.
"These people, they're so unruly and uncivilized and so rowdy, jumping up and down," US radio announcer Ana Kasparian said in her criticism. "They just can't sit down unless you give them some ... fried chicken."
KFC, which is a sponsor of cricket in Australia, said on Thursday the ad was meant to be "tongue-in-cheek" as it announced it would "cease immediately."
The controversy puzzled many Australians. On Friday, The Age newspaper in Melbourne posted a survey online asking if the ad was racist. Of more than 6,600 votes, 86 percent selected "no."
The Australian newspaper yesterday carried a tongue-in-cheek piece mocking the suggestion the ad proves Australia is a racist country.
The ad depicts a white Australian cricket fan subduing boisterous black West Indian fans by sharing his fried chicken.
"Need a tip when you're stuck in an awkward situation?" the Australian asks. "Too easy," he adds after the West Indian supporters surrounding him give up their celebrating to eat his KFC.
The spot, which foreshadows a much-anticipated clash between the two fiercely competitive cricketing nations, ran for three weeks without raising a complaint in Australia.
But when it spread on the Internet to the United States, some people complained it played on a derogatory stereotype of black Americans. Minstrel shows, which portrayed demeaning caricatures of blacks in the 19th and early 20th century, often showed them eating fried chicken.
There is no such association in Australia.
"These people, they're so unruly and uncivilized and so rowdy, jumping up and down," US radio announcer Ana Kasparian said in her criticism. "They just can't sit down unless you give them some ... fried chicken."
KFC, which is a sponsor of cricket in Australia, said on Thursday the ad was meant to be "tongue-in-cheek" as it announced it would "cease immediately."
The controversy puzzled many Australians. On Friday, The Age newspaper in Melbourne posted a survey online asking if the ad was racist. Of more than 6,600 votes, 86 percent selected "no."
The Australian newspaper yesterday carried a tongue-in-cheek piece mocking the suggestion the ad proves Australia is a racist country.
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